Summer Days
by AlexLoneWolf
Summary: No matter how bad things got, you were always there by my side. Despite what anyone else said, you were always there to tell me what really mattered. I thought things were bad enough when we came across others who had it better. However, it turns out that you were all I ever really needed. If it wasn't already too late, I'd go back to the life we used to live in a heartbeat.
1. Prologue

I felt my eyes shiver in fear as I witnessed the argument before me unfold. I tried thinking of any kind of way of stopping it before it got any worse, but all I could hear was shouting from both sides.

"Give it back, Shredder!" You ordered him, even though you knew he was under no obligation to obey it whatsoever.

"Or what? Really? What are you going to do about it?" He told you, making a stupid kind of smug smirk that I honestly wanted to punch myself, if I could.

"Alex won it fair and square! Just give it back already!" I claimed.

"More like he cheated, if you ask me."

The argument continued, and you looked like you were already ready to sacrifice your pride and dignity _just for me_. At that time, I was desperate. I didn't want to see you get hurt. Not over some stupid thing like ice cream. Starlight, our old foster sister, had been standing by him with her usual could-care-less look on her face. She had been dating him for who knew why, so I was hoping I could somehow convince her to make him stop.

"Tell him to stop, Starlight!" I pleaded to her. "I don't care about the ice cream! Just make him leave Alex alone!"

I didn't expect her to do anything about it, and she didn't. She only rolled her eyes and continued to carelessly watch the scene, waiting for him to be done and move on. Still, I couldn't help but feel weak at my knees and hopeless about stopping for what was to come.

* * *

Besides mostly one thing, I was just your average young mare in Fillydelphia. There was nothing worth noting about me that you'd classify as special. We especially weren't popular and were mostly treated like outcasts for one stupid little thing.

Our eyes.

I don't know if we acted like freaks, but other ponies would especially find themselves staring directly at our eyes way too often as if we were some foreign aliens from outer space. Then again, I suppose that wasn't necessarily too far from the truth.

As you know, my left eye is a dark blue like yours, and my right eye is more of a light sky blue. However, back then, I wasn't the only one with this pair of odd eyes. You had eyes just like mine, but they were sort of colored in the opposite kind of way. In other words, your left eye was a light sky blue, and your right eye was dark blue.

It didn't help that I had, and still have, a crazy fear of water due to a group of ponies who thought it'd be funny one day, back when I was just practically a little foal, to see if I could swim or not. My life would have been over that day, but just like you always do, you came to my rescue. Even so, I had been traumatized, so much to the point where I couldn't even take a bath on my own without having you with me to keep me safe.

In the end, the two of us stuck with each other for the majority of our lives. I still remember how ponies would wonder exactly how we would be considered twins in the first place. We looked and acted _nothing_ alike, but we still especially got along almost perfectly.

Despite what other ponies thought of us, we surprisingly held up pretty well. After all, it was the love we had for each other that kept us strong. That's what I believe anyway. We were looking forward to the one day that we'd be able to leave both Fillydelphia and our family. I was sure that maybe if we worked our butt off, we could sort of start a new life somewhere else.

Although, even though I hadn't put too much thought to it, I didn't realize that that dream would fall short on our last summer vacation together.


	2. Day 1 - Summer Sun

Day 1 – Summer Sun

* * *

 _I remember having strange dreams that I never paid much attention to. In fact, they would disappear for the most part after several seconds of waking up. Sometimes, I would think long and hard and try to remember what they were about, but I usually found that they only unnecessarily took time out of my life. Had I known that these dreams were actually hinting of the power hidden inside of me, I would have taken them much more seriously._

 _It was both the first day of summer and the last day of school. I had been lightly woken up by the school bells in the distance from where we lived together. I mumbled sleepily a bit as I wiped my eyes and tried to blindly find the window sill by our twin-sized bed. It was ironic. You would think that a twin-sized bed would fit a couple of twins pretty comfortably. However, our bed was only big enough to barely hold us together while not giving us much leg room._

 _When I managed to grab ahold of the window by our bed, I slowly allowed my eyes to adjust to the light outside in town. That morning was an especially beautiful one. I even lightly pushed open our window to feel the cool summer breeze that had been roaming around at that time._

 _I took a minute to take in both the scenery and the rising sun's rays which kissed my coat ever so gently. It was going to be an amazing day. I just knew it. After I had enough time to practically daydream, I turned to my side and found you still sleeping the morning away. The bells hadn't woken you up, so I was sure if I hadn't woken you myself, you would've missed probably one of the most important days of school._

" _Alex…! Alex!" I lightly called. "Come on, wake up! You can't miss the last day of school! Miss Cadence will miss you."_

 _After some teasing from yours truly, you finally managed to wake up. Afterwards, we went on to brush our teeth, and, you know, the usual stuff._

* * *

I knew it had been the last day of school, but Athena had been way more excited than usual. It was nice to get out of schoolwork, but at the same time, I felt like I liked being at school better. There was Miss Cadence to hang around with, and she was a way more of a suitable role model than our parents.

"Come on, Alex!" Athena called, waving her hoof vividly towards me. "If we don't hurry, we're going to miss role call!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming." I answered as I casually walked on over.

"Hey, hey, hey! It's your last day, isn't it?"We heard from nearby.

It had been one of the shopkeepers we have been acquainted with for some time now. Unfortunately, we didn't really have any money to buy any of his merchandise with, but he seemed to like us enough to spare time out from his business on us.

"Hiya, Mr. Orange!" Athena bellowed out cheerfully. "It is, indeed!"

This shopkeeper's name had to do with Sticks, but Athena liked calling him Orange.

"That sounds great! Hope you two have a good one!"

Before we kept moving on, I had just remembered something important I wanted to ask him for a while now. "Oh! Hey, I don't suppose you have any openings for the summer, do you? Athena and I are kind of strapped for bits."

"Sorry there, Al." He returned an apologetic frown. "I'd love to have you around here, but shop hasn't been getting too much attention lately. You can check back later in the summer. Maybe I'll have something at least for one of you then."

"Yeah, yeah. No problem." I shook my head as I completely understood his stance.

"Why don't you check with Aura?" He pointed his eyes in the direction of a younger mare nearby. She tended to sell treats to the school ponies and other locals. "She might have something."

"Got it. Thanks." I began waving off as I turned in the other direction.

"See you later, Mr. Orange!" Athena waved as well, stepping backwards until her body jerked a bit as if she was going to trip.

I quickly grabbed a hold of Athena, but it wasn't until I noticed the ground behind her when I realized how disastrous it would have been if I hadn't caught her. There had been a grate for rain, but it had been almost entirely rusted out. The middle section of the metal looked like it could break at the smallest and most gentle kind of impact.

"Keep your eyes peeled there, Athena!" Sticks warned from his post. "I spoke with the town and made a complaint, but they told me it could be weeks before it gets fixed. Only way I'd be able to have it replaced now is if I call someone to fix it, but it'd surely run me a pretty bit. No way do I have that kind of money on me."

I thought of maybe trying to find something to put on there, but I realized it would erase the point of the grate being there in the first place. "We'll be careful. Thanks." I returned and looked over to Athena. "You alright?"

With a small smile, she nodded. "Thanks." Making an important note of the location of the grate, she proceeded to skip on forward towards the next shop. "Let's go talk with your _girlfriend_!"

I felt my teeth clench from embarrassment. "Athena! Hey!"

Aura obviously wasn't my girlfriend, but I always thought she was extremely pretty. Honestly, I'd be interested in dating her, but she was kind of…older than me. Athena knew this, but she still liked to tease me about it anyway. I didn't know what kind of satisfaction she gained by almost utterly embarrassing me like that.

"Hi, Aura!" Athena greeted with a bright grin.

"Hey, Athena. How's it going?" Aura returned an inviting smile.

I hesitantly approached the counter as I knew Athena was going to throw one last subtle tease at me. "Alex wants to ask you something."

"Oh?" She turned towards me, causing me to feel way more nervous than I should have been.

"Yeah, I just wanted to know if you might need any extra help around here during the summer." I asked as quickly as I could.

"Hmm." The end of her ponytail wavered lightly as she tilted her head in thought. "I'm not sure, but if it gets really busy during the summer, I'll be sure to let you know!"

So, it was kind of the same answer as before. I guess two places are better than one.

"I appreciate it." I mentioned and glanced towards the direction of the schoolhouse. "Guess we better get going. Don't wanna be late for our last day after all."

"It's your last day? Awesome!" Aura expressed in an undeniably cute manner. "Hope you have a great day!"

"Thanks." I attempted to calmly smile. "You too."

Before we could get going, she called out to us one last time. "Oh! Mrs. M wanted me to tell you to stop by her shop before you head off to school if I saw you. She said she has something for the two of you."

"Cool!" Athena shared.

Something for us? Is it a job or something materialistic? Guess we better go find out.

"Okay, thanks. See you later, Aura."

"Bye!" She waved lightly as we turned in the direction of our last stop before we would definitely have to get a move on to school.

Mrs. M ran a sort of quick stop shop for food and drinks. It was usually for ponies on-the-run, but sometimes others stopped by to relax and hang out with their friends.

"How's it going, Mrs. M?" Athena greeted warmly. "You wanted to see us?"

Having been an elderly pony, she had to go through the motion of squinting through her glasses until she was able to recognize us clearly. "Athena, Alex, yes!" She attempted to twist her body around to reach something to the side. "I made you some breakfast." She placed a couple of paper bags on the counter.

"No way! For real?!" Athena blurted out in surprise.

It wasn't that much of a surprise, to be honest. We usually helped her out on certain occasions at her shop. It was for free, of course, and she would do things like make us lunch or breakfast in return. "You didn't have to do that." I humbly assured.

"Nonsense!" She objected. "You two deserve it. After all, you two are the sweetest ponies I have ever met."

Athena and I glanced towards each other for a moment before politely accepting her gift. "Thank you, Mrs. M! Beats an ordinary slice of toast anyday!"

"Yeah, thanks, ma'am." I added to our collective thanks.

"You're very welcome." She responded as a smile slowly stretched out on her face. "You two have a good day."

"We will!" Athena energetically replied and proceeded to bump me with her leg. "Come on! Let's get to school."

* * *

By the time we arrived, there were only a few minutes before class would begin. Athena and I decided to keep our breakfast and save it for lunch instead. Since there wasn't much time to begin with, we were only able to share a short greeting towards Miss Cadence. Afterwards, we proceeded to take our seats and wait for what would be in store for us today.

Since it was the last day, Miss Cadence went easy on the class. She was always kind of easy, at least towards Athena and me, but today was extra laidback. Today's lesson was mostly about our plans for the future. Once we were finished with our work, we asked Miss Cadence if we could be dismissed to get an early start on lunch. It was then when the two of us gathered at the rooftop with brown bags on hoof.

Athena excitedly yet calmly began revealing what had been inside her bag. It was a hay and veggie sandwich smothered in some kind of sauce Athena loved. It was definitely an unusual meal, but that was just like Athena.

The two of us quietly enjoyed our meal as we felt the gentle breeze brush against our coats. Unfortunately, there was no sunset to enjoy, but it was the middle of the day after all. It wasn't until we finished our meals when we started seeing other ponies gathering outside for their free period. We could see groups of young stallions kicking a ball around, mares possibly gossiping and giggling among each other, and other friends just hanging around.

I wasn't sure if it was unfortunate or not, but Athena or I didn't really know what being down there was like. Besides each other, the only other pony we _really_ talked to was Miss Cadence. I was mostly used to this, but every now and then, I'd see Athena looking pretty miserable about our state of popularity, so to speak.

I could hear her sighing loudly, catching my attention. "I wonder what it feels like…to have so many friends by your side." She mentioned as I noticed her intently eyeing those below us. "Going to parties. _Having_ a birthday party and bringing a bunch of your friends to share laughs with. It must be nice…"

"Does it really bother you that much?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Yeah, it kind of does." She stated despondently. "The fact that kids keep away from you because you're not like them? It sucks. How am I supposed to have any kind of control of what color my eyes are? All it takes is one pony calling you a freak before others hop on the bandwagon and steer clear from you. That and…" She took a glance over to her flank. "I'm the only one left who hasn't gotten her cutie mark…"

"They're just kids." I almost angrily returned. "They don't know anything besides fitting in with the latest trends. I probably wouldn't want to hang around someone who's spoiled by their parents anyway. Besides, you're not alone. We share the same kind of eyes, remember?" I reminded, making sure to look her in the eye, so she could have a clear view of mine.

Athena stared back for some time before she slowly turned away. "Yeah…but you got _your_ cutie mark." She turned over to my flank. "I think you actually had a chance to fit in, but you decided to stay with me and let my weirdness rub off on you."

"Well, you're never going to get your cutie mark with _that_ kind of attitude." I said frankly, turning my attention over to the different kinds of commotion the other students were creating. "Seriously, don't feel all guilty because of what I _chose_ to do. You and I have seen the kind of drama these kids like to stir up and be a part of. I'd hate to be a part of any of that."

"I guess you're right." Athena seemed to accept hesitantly. It was silent between us for a moment before she spoke up once again. "Hey, Alex?"

"Hm?" I responded with, my mind feeling blank at the time.

"Do you think…we have a purpose with our lives? You know…moving up from having no friends and a broken family? Sometimes, I feel scared because I don't know what's in store for our future. In other words, I'm not sure if we can just be who we are without any kind of worries or barriers. I'm not sure if we even _have_ a future to look forward to."

I took her words in a deep state of thought. I suppose I never really thought about that, and I had always lived life as it came. It seemed she wanted a happy healthy life like the majority of other ponies here. In one way, she wanted the freedom to be herself and not be punished for it. It was hard, but I guessed that the first step to our "happy" life would be getting out of our home and moving forward to support ourselves afterwards.

"I don't know…" I shook my head. I had begun feeling a little worried for our future as well, but I didn't want to think about what we'd do at that time. "It's not like I can see into the future." I turned towards her and began remembering the reason why I had been able to make it this far in life. "…but you know what? I feel, as long we're together…" I turned towards the blue skies and smiled warmly. "Nothing can stop us."

* * *

At the end of the school day, everyone had been in a rush to get out, so they could get started on their summer vacation as soon as possible. However, Athena and I had remained inside the classroom. For one, there was absolutely nothing exciting or special waiting for us outside the school like it was for the other classmates. But most importantly, we wanted to speak with Miss Cadence for as long we could before we went our separate ways. She had been from Canterlot, so there was no promise that we'd see her again.

"Will you be teaching us next year, Miss Cadence?" Athena asked a little worriedly.

Miss Cadence softly smiled. She must have sensed how strongly attached Athena had been to her. "I'll try my best to come back and teach my favorite students." She rubbed each of our manes as if we had been little foals. "However, I don't know how much longer I have in this program. You two know how young I was when I started teaching you. The only way I'd safely be able to stay here is if I'm officially employed as your instructor." She lifted a hoof and somewhat worriedly brushed her mane. "Then again…a lot of things are happening back in Canterlot. As you know, I've been dating somepony who's apart of the Royal Guard for a while now, and I think I can say things are getting _pretty_ serious now." She chuckled a little embarrassingly. "At best, I may be only able to teach for a couple more years."

"I think we should be graduated by then…" I mentioned, turning towards Athena for confirmation.

"You two should _totally_ come to Canterlot then!" Miss Cadence suggested enthusiastically. "I'm not sure what it is you two exactly plan to do, but it _is_ a thriving city. I'm sure you'll find something there."

"That doesn't sound too bad actually." Athena's lips lifted upwards by an apparent glimmer of hope. "We'd have to save up money to move there though…"

"Yeah. Isn't Canterlot pretty expensive to live in?" I asked.

" _Well…_ " Miss Cadence rolled her eyes in thought. "Depending on what exactly happens up there with me, _maybe_ I _could_ get you someplace to stay. After all…" Her small grin had rolled over into a frown. "I know how hard it is for you two at home. I wish I could have been able to do more."

Athena immediately shook her head. "No, no. You've done enough by treating us like normal ponies, unlike the others. But, if you could do that after we graduate, we'd _totally_ appreciate it. Home here isn't exactly the best place to think about our future."

"I'll see what I can do." Miss Cadence chuckled as she said that. "You two have such amazing potential. I just hope being here doesn't keep you from accomplishing things you're capable of doing."

Athena and I shared a glance with each other. When I turned back to Miss Cadence, I merely shrugged. "We do with what we can."

She stared at us with a somewhat solemn look in her face in response before she seemed to be interrupted with another thought in her mind. "I better get going. I've got some things I should really take care of back in Canterlot." She turned her attention to her bag and had another moment of sudden realization. "Oh…! And before I forget!" She pulled out two pieces of clothing from her things. "Seeing how your birthdays are around the corner, I got you two a little something-something!"

A pair of hoodies were unveiled before us. One was a blackish-blue, and the other was a bright pink.

"Whoa!" Athena exclaimed.

She hovered them towards us with her magic until we stretched out our hooves to catch them.

"I really wanted to give them to you _on_ your birthday, but I wasn't so sure if I'd be able to. On that particular day, I'm going to be here going over some paperwork like evaluations and all that to sum up my work for this year. Even after I'm done, I'm probably going to have to head to Canterlot anyway."

"We could have just come over here for a visit then." I mentioned as Athena took her time in excitedly looking over her new and seeming soft hoodie. "It's not like we really do anything special on our birthday anyway. We usually just get out of the house and find something to do on our own."

"That also reminds me!" Miss Cadence was yet reminded of another that thing must have trailed off her mind. She then pulled out what appeared to be a flyer from her bag. "Here." She said as she brought the paper over to me. "I thought this might be something you'd be interested in doing. It's another reason why I didn't think I'd be able to see you. After all, you wouldn't want be wasting a special day around someone who's stuck doing work."

"Huh." I had already been studying the flyer as soon as I grabbed ahold of it. "A competition? Never heard of this before."

"Yeah, it doesn't seem like it's a big thing." Miss Cadence continued to explain. "A pony had been handing flyers earlier this morning and I just so happened to take one on the way over here."

"Oh, hey!" Athena had been observing the flyer over my shoulder. "It looks like they're promoting some new kind of ice cream, and the winner of the competition gets the luxury of being the first pony to have it…for free!"

"Question is… Is it really worth the trouble of winning the competition for just a piece of new ice cream?" I couldn't help but ask.

"This isn't just any kind of ice cream!" Athena refuted emotionally. "This is like…an only-for-a-limited-time kind of ice cream! If we won this, we'd be the first ponies to have the opportunity of trying something no pony has ever tried before!"

"But…ice cream…?" I still felt the reward wasn't exactly worth the effort.

" _Free_ ice cream!"

I heard Miss Cadence laughing at our little banter. "Either way, the way I see it, this competition seems like a fun little thing to do. The ice cream is just a reward for anypony who strives to perform their best."

"And promotion, I guess." I added in and looked over the flyer once more. "I guess it wouldn't hurt. Like I said, we usually don't really have anything to do anyway."

At my side, I heard Athena sigh. "If only we weren't broke, I'd totally have ice cream every day. Ice cream is the best."

With one last giggle, Miss Cadence gathered her things. "I really need to get going. Don't wanna be late. I hope I'll get to see you two really soon."

"Yeah, same here!" Athena expressed strongly.

Miss Cadence proceeded to pull us in for a group hug. "Have a great summer, you two." She mentioned earnestly, tightening her embrace for a moment before we pulled away.

"You too." I responded, beginning to feel a little disheartened with her departure. "Thanks a lot for the hoodies. It's about the only thing we've really gotten in our lives."

"Don't mention it." She lightly messed with my mane as she shared one last smile.

Afterwards, Athena and I carried our newly acquired hoodies with us and walked back home.

"So, what do you wanna do for our birthday?" Athena asked me the question. She was usually always the one to bring it up every year.

I remembered the flyer Miss Cadence had given us. Athena was pretty excited about the idea of winning the ice cream. If it had just been me, I'm pretty sure I would have skipped the idea of the competition as a whole. However, as I thought about it, I began feeling this sort of fluttery feeling in my heart. Soon enough, a thought immediately formed in my mind. It was the thought of being able to give something for once to the only pony that's been there for me my entire life. The only pony that I've been able to count on to pick me back up. Perhaps the only pony that I would give my life for.

Thinking back, I don't believe I ever did tell Athena how much I loved her as I should have, but if I were to win this prize and finally have something to give to her as a birthday gift, I could really show her how much she means to me for once…

"Alex…?" Athena called, slightly leaning over to observe the lowered expression on my face.

"We could check out the competition." I finally replied. Taking another look at the flyer, I paid attention particularly at the date. "It takes place right on our birthday. What are the odds of that?"

"Oh, so you _are_ interested?" Athena returned a smug little smirk.

"I have my reasons." I intentionally answered vaguely. I'd rather keep the idea of giving her the prize a secret until then.

"Reasons?" Athena returned questioningly. She remained silent for a moment, presumably thinking, until she spoke up once more. "Why? Do you think you'll see Coco there?"

I immediately jumped and froze in place when she brought her up all of a sudden. Coco hadn't been in my thoughts at the time, but her name was still able to have a significant effect on me. "Why would you say that?!"

" _Ohh!_ I see. So I _was_ right?" Athena stretched out her smug smile even more.

" _No!_ " I exclaimed rather loudly. It was the truth, but the way I looked and sounded certainly wasn't helping.

"Whatever you say, lover boy." Athena brushed off with a small but effective tease. "Just remember, if it wasn't for me, you two would have never started talking."

"Yeah, yeah…" I continued walking, willing to get back home as soon as possible. "It's too bad we didn't really get to talk at all today."

"You know she's busy." Athena reminded as she caught up with me at my side. "Her parents have been wanting to take her to Manehattan, but I guess she's been insisting on staying here. She must really love you."

"Oh, shut up!" I felt myself feeling hot from embarrassment.

" _Ohhh_!" Athena began giggling and obviously enjoying the look of my rather weak side. "You're so cute when you blush!"

There may have been things about Athena that have had the potential in making me extremely uncomfortable, such as her teasing, but in reality, nothing she could ever do could detract from how much she ultimately meant to me.

"Hey, do you know about the Summer Sun Celebration?" Athena asked once the heat in my cheeks died down a bit. "I think it's supposed to be a kind of social gathering or party for when the sun gets raised on the longest day of the year. It's supposed to be like in three weeks."

"I think I've heard of it…" I answered after sparing a little time in thought. "I don't think I've ever actually seen this 'celebration' though."

"Well, if we ever come across it, we _gotta_ check it out." Athena enthusiastically suggested.

"Yeah, sure." I somewhat lazily accepted. "I think I'd prefer to see the moon get raised, but whatever makes you happy."

"That's just because you're a night owl." She pointed out.

"You're totally right."

"Totes, my boy, totes."

With future events in my mind, we returned home to continue thinking over new plans to spend our summer vacation on.


	3. Day 2 - Training

Day 2 – Training

* * *

 _The day after, I was really surprised to find you up before me. You had apparently been "working out" outside, such as running whatever laps you could and performing pushups to the best of your ability. I honestly didn't expect you to be exercising the moment our official break started, but when I asked you, your answer surprised me even more._

 _You had been warming up for the competition. Now, it wasn't like any kind of bodybuilder competition where you see massively pumped-up ponies flexing their muscles and lifting impossibly huge weights, but it did require some sort of physical activity._

 _By what was stated on the flyer, there was supposed to be some sort of scavenger hunt across town, and those who finish at the top would then compete with some other kind of event that required "strength, agility, and endurance" from the competitor. I guess it was meant to be a surprise, but you strangely didn't take it too lightly._

 _I was really puzzled at first. When we heard about this competition, you didn't seem so interested in it to begin with. Yet, on the next day, you were out early in the morning training for it. I had wondered why you had had such a sudden change of heart. At first, I thought you were planning to just impress Coco, should she be there. However, I wouldn't have guessed in the next few days of what your true intentions were._

* * *

I obviously wasn't going to be able to keep my preparation for the competition a secret from Athena, so it was only a matter of extremely short time when she'd see me exercising a little too fervently the next morning.

"What are _you_ doing up so early?" Athena asked, rubbing her eyes a little. She must have just woken up.

"Working out." I briefly responded, having just finished a sprint and trotting back to where I had started.

"That's weird. For what?" She only watched me from the sidelines.

"The competition. We want a chance of winning, right?" I tried to say between short gasps for breaths.

"I guess." Athena surprisingly didn't share the same enthusiasm. It was almost as if our thoughts about the competition had completely switched around. "But I don't think you have to go _too_ far into working out for it. It's in what, five days?"

"Hey, if it increases our chances, then why the hay not?" I _so_ didn't sound like myself. Even I couldn't ignore it. "Besides, I could probably use the exercise."

"Well then." It appeared Athena wasn't really going to question it any further. She lightly hopped over to me with a smile plastered on her tilted face. "Why don't I join you then?"

I was pretty taken aback by her suggestion. "You? You want to work out too?"

"Hey, just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I can't make a little muscle too, y'know?"

"Fair enough." I decided. After all, it wasn't like I was against it anyway. "Come on, I'll help you stretch."

From then on, seeing as we still hadn't had anything planned for the summer, we decided to start it off with some training for the competition that will hopefully award us our ice cream prize.


	4. Day 4 - Love

Day 4 – Love

* * *

 _We had been spending the days preparing for the day of the competition, but I never did tell you about one of the real reasons I started working out with you. Yes, I did also want to prep myself up for when we'd compete, but there was something else that motivated me to be more active. That, however, is for another chapter of our story._

 _During one of our training sessions, you were surprised to have a sudden visitor. Rather, it was an admirer who had been doing some admiring from afar as you worked out._

* * *

"I think that's good enough for today." I shared, wiping the sweat off my forehead and extremely willing to dunk myself into a cool pool of water.

"I'm starving." Athena mentioned. "Let's see what we can find in the fridge." She proceeded to turn in the direction of our home until she appeared to be suddenly caught off-guard by something. "Oh!"

Taking a glance at what had caught her attention myself, I noticed a creamy-coated mare standing by our street watching us. As soon as we had noticed her, she immediately appeared to grow flustered and began fumbling around as if she was trying to disguise the fact that she had been observing us.

"Is that Coco?" Athena's excitement back to rise. "Coco! Hi!"

As Athena and I began to approach her, Coco began messing with her hair. She appeared to brush and straighten it out until we were in front of her. "Oh…um…hi." She glanced at me every now and then, but she mainly looked towards Athena.

"We didn't get to see you afterschool the other day." Athena remembered. "Did you have to go practice again?"

"Yes, unfortunately…" Coco lowered her head downwards as she answered. "It'll be our graduation before we know it, and my parents want me to be prepared when I start working towards my career…"

"So, you're really settling with dressmaking, huh?" Athena asked.

"I like the idea of creating new types of things that ponies will hopefully use." Coco bashfully bumped her hooves as she said this. "It kind of feels like cooking in a way, but I'd rather there not be any kind of chance of giving somepony food poisoning with _my_ cooking."

It sounded like a joke, but Coco Pommel wasn't really a jokester to begin with, so I was afraid that it might have been a serious comment.

"You're always so serious about your work." Athena mentioned with determined eyes. "You're bound to make it big. I know you will!"

"Thanks." Coco shared a small smile. "Oh! And look what I got." She began shuffling through her schoolbag that she had for some reason. "I was so lucky to come across this! These things are hard to come by, and there was only one more left in the shop!" She revealed a rainbow-colored spool towards us. It was definitely something we didn't see everyday. Perhaps, it was the first and only time we've seen a spool like that. "I'm going to wait and see what kind of design I can come up with to use this on."

"It looks cool!" Athena eyed the spool for a while until she oddly looked my way. I suppose she realized I hadn't been talking much, so she decided to drag me into the conversation. "Right, Alex?"

"O-oh, yeah…" There was a reason I hadn't been really talking, and that was because Coco was right here in front of us.

Coco switched her look over to me and revealed her timid yet absolutely adoring eyes. I was stuck staring silently at them until she embarrassingly smiled and broke our gaze by looking away.

"Thanks…"

"By the way, what are you doing here, Coco? I didn't expect to see you around these parts." Athena asked.

"I came back from doing a little shopping." Coco explained. "I haven't really seen or spoke with you two in a while, so I thought I might…well…stop by."

"Aww. That's so sweet of you! We should really hang out some more, Coco! It's summer break, after all!" Athena encouraged.

"I really want to, but my parents have been kind of pushing me to focusing on my work." I didn't get what was up about Coco's parents. I guess they really wanted her to succeed at her dreams, but she seemed a little too…restricted. I could see in Coco's eyes that she shared Athena's enthusiasm, but the thought of her parents was keeping those eyes of hers from being too expressive about it. "I'll try though! I'm sure I could squeeze some time with you two!"

"If there's anything we can do to help, let us know!" Athena appeared to fully reclaim the energy we had lost from our morning routine. "We've got all summer, so we should make the most of it!"

Coco's smile stretched, and she nodded as if she was motivated by Athena's words. "Yeah!" Unfortunately, it appeared she had forgotten that she was in the middle of doing something important. "Oh, sorry, guys. I should probably get going. I don't want my parents wondering where I'm at."

"No problem!" Athena immediately stretched out her hooves and hugged Coco with all the love she could spare. "See you soon!"

Coco was slightly surprised by Athena's gesture, but she easily accepted it nonetheless, having been the victim of Athena's hugs multiple times already. Once they pulled away, she shyly looked over to me and lightly waved with a bashful smile. "Bye."

"Bye…" I raised my hoof to wave her back, but I had suddenly been pushed towards her. Both of us grunted in surprise when our chests somewhat forcefully collided, and I had immediately began feeling heat surge through me when my forelegs hung around her for support. It took me a few seconds to pull away and immediately apologize. Honestly, it felt more like minutes or even hours. "Sorry!"

Although her face was red hot as if she had just finished a marathon, she shook her head quickly and responded to me. "D-d-don't worry about it! B-b-bye!" She turned and immediately began walking off in a fast pace.

I already knew who the culprit had been. I turned to face the one who intentionally pushed me and began to question her actions with a rather unintentional glare. "What was that all about?!"

"I wanted you to hug her." Athena simply explained. "And I knew you weren't going to do it on your own, so I decided to give you a…push." She proceeded to lightly giggle at her comedic expression.

I only sighed and wiped my face in frustration. "And because you did that, she probably thinks I'm a weirdo now."

"Oh, Alex." Athena shook her head as if she was my superior. "You can be so dumb sometimes. _Who_ was the one that got you two talking in the first place? _Who_ was the one that encouraged you to say something and stopped you from _ignoring_ her every time you two walked past each other?"

"Geez. You make it sound like I hated her or something." I scrunched my face up from her description of a past memory.

"No, but maybe she thought that? Maybe she wanted to talk to you, but she was too shy too?"

"Alright, alright." I had enough. "So, what was forcing a hug going to do?"

"Oh, Alex." She repeated as she faced me with half-lidded eyes. "You need to start trusting me a little more. A girl knows what a girl wants."

With those words, she left me to walk back towards the house. Sometimes, I wished she could stop being such an enigma and tell me things straight up, but I guess that was just a part of her personality.


	5. Day 6 - For You

Day 6 – For You

* * *

 _The time for the competition had arrived. Even though it had been our birthday, we raced over to the location of the event. After all, we could celebrate later, especially if we won. However, just as Miss Cadence had mentioned, the place was hardly packed. To be honest, the sight of the event made it look as if it was specifically for ponies our age, and the majority of the audience watching were parents or family of the participants._

 _Before the event actually begun, we had to go over some rules first. The rules were pretty predictable and relied on mainly common sense; there was to be no kind of cheating whatsoever or violence. That kind of stuff. We were then each given a map of the local area, plus a set of instructions. We were to search for certain things in shops and somewhat remote places. To put it simply, it was kind of an elaborate easter egg hunt. All in all, there was one common theme among everything that we needed to find, and it all had to do with ice cream…plus the brand they were trying to promote…_

 _Even though the event wasn't very big to begin with, there was quite a decent number of participants. There was hardly anyone we knew though. The last thing we were told was that the ponies who finished the fastest would move on to the next round, so we had to at least reach a place at the top if we wanted to win that round._

 _If you ask me, the scavenger hunt was pretty fun, but it was nothing really worth going into detail about. There had been no drama during that race, and we spent the majority of time working with each other in trying to figure out what exactly it was that we were looking for. If you want a sense of how exciting it was, you could picture the two of us working on a puzzle over a table top on a sunny afternoon._

 _It wasn't until after we finished the hunt where I noticed some differences when comparing us to other ponies. They seemed to participate against each other as if it was a free-for-all instead of working together with each other like we were. It wasn't until the next and surprisingly last round where I'd realize the truth behind their behavior._

 _The last round consisted more of aggressive tactics. It was still supposed to be clean, but I, for one, felt troubled by it. The rest of the ponies that moved to the next round were actually supposed to face each other one-on-one. Fortunately, it wasn't a battle to the death, but it was sort of a king-of-the-hill kind of thing. Two ponies would stand over a narrow plank and hold what looked like foam bats. The more I looked at these bats, the more I began believing that they were supposed to possibly represent ice cream with the handles being the sticks, of course._

 _I didn't like the idea of facing against somepony like that to begin with, but it wasn't until I realized the objective of the "game" when I was completely against it._

* * *

Athena and I, along with the other competitors, stood on the sidelines as we paid attention to the announcer explain the rules of the game.

"For this last round, two ponies will come up here…" He presented a narrow platform held by the sides of the large pool it was on top on. "…and with these…" He lifted up some kind of foam bat with his hooves. "…they fight each other until either one of them can knock the other into the water! Whoever wins will face the other winners until there's only one pony left!"

I heard Athena sharply gasp at this, and the reason was plainly obvious to me.

"Water?! What?!" Athena lightly panicked.

"I…wasn't expecting this…" I honestly reacted.

Athena quickly turned to me. "Alex, you know I can't—"

"I know." I immediately understood. "This isn't supposed to be a team effort anyway. I probably would've had to end up being against you anyway."

"Yeah…but I probably would've given you the win."

Athena appeared to be deeply depressed during that moment. I supposed she wanted to work with me until the end, but this wasn't that type of competition unfortunately. Either way, I didn't want to see her frown. In fact, noticing how nearly miserable she looked, it made me want to fight even harder to make sure I got her her prize.

"Hey, Athena." I immediately shared a warm smile and brought her in for a hug. "Don't worry. I can still do this, and I'll try to put in double the effort in your place."

After the corners of her lips slowly pulled in the opposite direction, she gently nodded. "I'll root as hard as I can for you here."

"I won't let you down." I promised before the round officially started.

Athena had to forfeit her place, so whoever she was supposed to be up against won by default. It was a little disappointing and bothersome to witness how easily her opponent won, but the sight was much easier to take in than trying to imagine Athena's reaction should she fall into the pool of water.

Being my only moral support, Athena's shouts of encouragement from the sidelines certainly did help me get through my matches. I had to admit, the matches were extremely casual and calm for the most part. It was like a friendly match of tennis. My opponent and I would swing our fake swords against each other, and it wasn't until a simple slip-up, or an attack that went unblocked, that caused my opponent to be thrown into the water.

I didn't want to sound like I wasn't confident of myself and my abilities, but for some reason, I felt I was really lucky to have gone as far as I did. It was also fortunate that my matches were pretty much clean. No dirty tricks were used by either of us.

As I returned from my last match, I exhaled a breath of relief as I started thanking my "training" from the past few days for giving me a boost on my agility, reflexes, and whatnot. Before I could sit down and relax, Athena almost immediately tackled me to the ground in excitement.

"You're in the finals, Alex!" She informed me, pointing towards a chalkboard the announcer and referee stood next to. The chalkboard refereed to the participants in a tournament-styled lineup. Every pony that had lost was crossed out, and every pony that won would move on to face against another winner from another match. It only took a couple matches to reach the finals since the number of participants was low to begin with.

It was also a good thing that this competition wasn't for any kind of expensively and ultra-hyped up prize, otherwise, the losers would probably throw fits instead of calmly shrugging off their loss. "Yeah. Let's just hope the last match will go as well as the others…" I stated.

I took the opportunity for a water break as I waited to be called on for the final match. Athena proceeded to wipe me off with a towel and even go as far as to massage me like ponies in boxing rings. It was a little unnecessary, but it did allow me to calm my nerves to see how silly Athena could be at times.

"Would the last combatants come up, please?"

"Knock em down, Al!" Athena whispered as I stood up to acknowledge the announcement.

Returning an appreciative nod, I climbed up onto the plank and waited a short while for my opponent to meet up. As soon as he joined me, I almost felt myself gasp when I recognized him. I hadn't, at all, expected him to even _be_ in this competition.

"You two know the rules." The referee reminded outside the pool, but he turned particularly to my opponent to mention something else. "However, I must warn you that you are not allowed whatsoever to use your magic. If I see any kind of magic being used, you will be disqualified immediately."

"Yeah, yeah…" He carelessly brushed off.

"Pick up your bats." Our referee instructed. We both did so at our side and continued to intently to glare at each other's eyes. "On your mark…"

I wasn't sure how this match was going to turn out because my final opponent was somepony both Athena and I didn't take much of a liking to. His name was Shredder, and he had been seeing our other sister, Starlight, for some time now. He was never a nice pony since we first met him when he starting seeing Starlight, so I wasn't sure if he was naturally a bully or just playing a bully for Starlight's sake. Starlight never liked Athena and me for as long as we could remember, so it could be a possibility that she rubbed off on her own boyfriend. Either way, if he was here, then Starlight must have been too…

"And…begin!"

I was given no time to go over my strategy for this match while I'd keep my eye on my opponent. Shredder immediately proceeded to pummel me down with all of his strength. As I lurched my head forward to block his rather blind but powerful attacks, I couldn't help but slip out a comment through my gritted teeth.

"Aren't you a little too old to be here?"

"Obviously, it isn't against the rules, is it?!" He lifted up his bat and proceeded to flail another heavy strike against me. "Starlight wants you to lose, so her stallion's gotta do what it takes to please his mare!"

"Even if it means crushing ponies' years younger than you, huh?" I grunted as I attempted to put in the same amount of force to counter his.

With a small chuckle, he surprisingly ceased his forceful offense for a short moment. "You'll understand if you ever get a girlfriend."

He immediately raised his bat to strike at me again, causing me to quickly position mine to counter it. As usual, I was slightly knocked back by the force, but this time was defiantly different. In the moment of my firm block, I suddenly felt my left hoof fall victim to a swift yet subtle kick. This caused my hoof to slip and ultimately me to lose my entire footing.

In a panic, I tried to regain my balance, but my hooves ended up spreading apart and hanging over each edge of the plank. I was in an extremely and obvious vulnerable state. I didn't hear anything from the referee, so whatever Shredder had done must had gone unnoticed. I was so caught off-guard that for a second, I could only stare at my reflection coming from the large pool of water below me.

"Alex!" I heard Athena shout in the background.

"See ya, loser." I heard in front of me as I picked my head back up. As soon as my sight met with my opponent, I noticed that his bat was already swinging towards me.

I should have already been knocked into the water at that point, but, for some reason, I couldn't tell if my reflexes had been enhanced or if time literally slowed down long enough for me to make a move since I was just barely able to slide back on the plank, thanks to the moisture that had accumulated on top of the plank.

Like the idiot he was, he swung too powerfully, and in this case, he had lost his own footing. He hadn't fallen in yet, but he was attempting to recover from his failed cheap shot. I could have ended it then and there, but since I had still been lying on top of the plank, I needed a short amount of time to bring myself back up.

By the time I could have full control again, Shredder had already managed to miraculously gain back his stability and held back his bat to go in for another power blow. In the short amount of time I had seen it coming, I barely moved my bat forward to protect my face, but I hadn't anticipated the force of his attack. My bat was practically ripped apart from my teeth, and I could see it shooting towards the water.

If I lost that bat, it was automatically over, seeing as I had no weapon to participate with. Without thinking, I fell forward and reached out for the bat with my hoof before it could dip into the water. As soon as I grabbed a hold of it, I spared no time in trying to guess his next move. I already knew he was going to go in for another finishing blow, so I quickly brought my bat towards me and positioned it horizontally across my face to block the blow that came crashing down.

"Just give up already!" He attempted to intimidate through his teeth. "I'm bigger than you, so I'm obviously going to win. Skip the embarrassment and just quit!"

I had already felt weakened compared to when this match started. His blows had been so forceful, that it took a lot out of me to block them. However, I couldn't let him win just because of how much of a brute he was being. I needed to teach him a lesson somehow. Besides, I wasn't going to let this idiot take the prize that I wanted to give to Athena. I couldn't!

I felt my jaw quiver as his bat grew closer towards me. I tried so hard to find a way to deflect, but so many things were going on, and I was too focused on my defensive strength to try to find a work around.

Even though I couldn't hear her words clearly, I could still hear Athena's voice in the background. She had placed all of her faith into me, and I couldn't bear the thought of disappointing her. I clenched my eyes shut and hoped I could muster some kind of burrowed strength within me. As I kept Athena in my thoughts, I felt myself growl and push up. I still had been using my hooves to hold the bat while he had been using his teeth. That had to be an advantage somehow, so I needed to take it!

"What?!" I heard him mutter out.

I threw open my eyes and felt myself glare back in a fiery blaze of anger. I had been able to lift his bat away from my face enough to proceed with my next move. Since he had been attempting to regain his advantage over me, I turned this over against him and slid backwards while allowing him to fall forwards with his bat. Using all the energy I had left, I threw my bat into the air long enough for me to use my hooves to get back up. As soon I as caught my bat with my teeth, I struck him across the face while he was still attempting to get up with the weight of his strength. I saw him slide and fumble around a bit, but all I could really tell standing there was the loud splash of water as I tried to recuperate my shallow breathing.

There was a moment of silence before I heard the announcer exclaim out excitedly.

"We have our winner!"

Immediately afterwards, I heard my surroundings roar with applause and cheers.

I kind of wanted to pass out at the moment, but just in case there was any kind of disqualification should I slip and fall into the water, even after winning, I forced myself to walk out of the battle arena.

Athena threw herself at me for a celebratory hug, but almost immediately after, she actually had to hold onto me to keep me from falling over from exhaustion. Nevertheless, I needed to continue to exert energy since I had to claim the prize for the event.

As much as I had wanted to go home and rest, I had to try not to look too much of a tool in front of everyone watching. They had some sort of insulated freezer on a cart nearby, and they proceeded to pull out the grand prize like some kind of holy grail. I wasn't so sure if it was due to the fatigue I felt at that point, but all the hype over this ice cream felt too much overdone.

"Thank you very much everyone, and be sure to check out our shop! We're holding an absolutely fantastic hard-to-pass special…"

As the promoter continued his advertising, I had been staring at the wrapped and untouched ice cream in my hoof. The wrapper covered the look of the ice cream inside, so I had no idea what it looked like.

"You're so awesome, Alex!" Athena excitedly praised. "I can't believe you're going to be the first pony ever to taste their new ice cream!"

I remained silent for several seconds, observing the ice cream all around before turning over to Athena. "Nah." I stretched my hoof out towards her. "You are."

"H-huh?!" Athena slightly jumped back from surprise. "But, I didn't win."

"Yeah, I did." I acknowledged. "But I only did all this for you, so… Happy Birthday."

"What?!" Athena was clearly still wandering around in a state of disbelief. "W-wait. No… Are you—?"

"Come on, Athena." I insisted. "You think I would have went through all the effort for some ice cream? I could care less about being 'the first pony' to have it. All I really wanted was to give it to you because it was what made you happy in the first place." I wanted to say more, but I felt a little hesitant by how embarrassing it would have been to say it. "And… I know I might not get to say this often…but I really love you and I want you know to know how much I mean it."

It was no surprise that Athena would immediately begin growing emotional at my embarrassing confession. As her reaction, she immediately wrapped her hooves around me as tightly as she could, almost cutting out my circulation of air. "Oh, I love you too, Alex! You didn't have to this for me!"

"Yeah, well…" I attempted to push her away, seeing as time was beginning to run short. "You better eat this, or it's going to melt."

"Ooh! Ooh!" Athena chirped as she accepted her gift. "I know the perfect place!" She glanced towards the sky for a moment before nodding her head. "We got a lot of time left, come on!"

She had already been prancing from joy towards the exit of the area. I knew that I wouldn't exactly be able to keep up with her at her speed, seeing as I had exerted most of my energy for the competition. However, before we could even make our way out, I suddenly heard Athena cry out.

"Hey!"

I noticed the ice cream she had been carrying plop out from her mouth and hover away from her. Eventually, it reached towards the pony responsible.

"Well, what do we have here?" The ice cream floated by his hard-to-miss smirk. "Running off with _my_ prize, huh?"

"Give it back, Shredder!" I ordered boldly, feeling my anger skyrocket from the sight.

"Or what? Really? What are you going to do about it?" Shredder had been standing near Starlight, so I suppose he was trying to look like some kind of macho stallion to her. On the other hoof, she looked rather bored and unamused. She looked like she just wanted this scene to be over with already.

In a way, Shredder's cockiness was nothing to take lightly. He was one of the only few unicorns around here, and he was nowhere near honorable enough to fight without his magic. I took a glance around me, but everypony had already went about their business. Even if there was somepony close by to help, I couldn't dare risk losing Athena's gift.

"Alex won it fair and square! Just give it back already!" Athena attempted to persuade him, but it obviously wasn't going to be that easy.

"More like he cheated, if you ask me." Shredder responded.

I sighed heavily. It didn't help that the ice cream was melting by the second, so I had to do _whatever_ it took to get it back.

"What do you want?" I asked.

He thought for a moment until a snicker slipped out from his mouth. "I've got it. How 'bout you get on your knees and beg? _Maybe_ I'll give it back."

I see. So, that's what you want, huh? You want to look like the bigger stallion because I beat you, even when you were the one who obviously tried to cheat your way? Fine, whatever. I don't care.

Sighing silently this time, I began to slowly approach him.

"Alex, wait!" Athena called out. "You don't have to do this! I don't need that ice cream!"

I simply ignored her and threw a deep glare straight towards Shredder's eyes.

"I'm waiting." He tapped his hooves.

I inhaled one last time through my nose, but I didn't let it out until my knees touched the ground, and I was bowing in front of him like an idiot. " _Please_ , Shredder. Give Athena back her ice cream…"

"Well…now that you ask so nicely…" I kept my head bowed until I suddenly heard a tear of a wrapper. My head shot up to see him slowly removing the ice cream out from its wrapper. "But then again, this _does_ look pretty darn good."

I couldn't help but feel paralyzed at the sight of him bringing the never-before-seen ice cream to his lips. It wasn't until he gave a horridly disgusting chomp through the ice cream's midpoint where my patience had been broken.

From where I had been bowing on the ground, I immediately broke into a pounce full of adrenaline. Before I could land any kind of hit onto him, he easily grabbed a hold of me with his magic and threw me a short distance away from him.

My vision unexpectedly grew blurry and sluggish for a short moment, and my only guess was that I must have hit my head. However, I wasn't going to give up that easily. No way. I stumbled a bit to get up, and all Shredder could do was laugh at the sight of me.

"Are you going to stand there and cry? Or and you going to fight? Come on!" He provoked.

As much as I wanted to unleash a flurry of blows onto his face, I took the time to calm down and think things through. It was most likely impossible to even come close to knocking him out myself as long as he used magic like the coward he was.

I took a good look at his exposed horn. Was it possible to, at the very least, stun him long enough to start wailing on him? But how? I spared a look over my surroundings and found several rocks of differing sizes. I grabbed a hold the biggest one I could find and began charging straight at my target.

He appeared to ready himself as if I was going to attack straight on. However, I stopped midway until I was close enough and chucked the rock at his head. I'm sure it didn't help that he never actually studied more into his magic besides using it wrongly against others.

I didn't stay long enough to see whether or now I hit my target pointblank. As soon as he yelped and began grasping ahold of his head with his hooves, I immediately took the opportunity and jumped him. At that moment, all I could see was red, and I had no intention of stopping until I had completely worn myself out.

" _Stop! Stop it!_ " I heard before I was suddenly pulled apart.

As I panted heavily, I was able to get a decent look at my opponent's face, and I was glad I was able to scuff it up a little. Although, I wasn't sure how I had looked on the other hoof.

"Did you see that?!" He complained towards the pony that had separated us by magic. "He _assaulted_ me!"

I turned over to find that the pony who intervened was Miss Cadence, to my surprise. "Go home, Shredder!" There was a serious and angry look on her face, one that I don't believe I had ever seen her wear before.

Shredder mumbled for a bit before he spared a glare over to me and eventually left with Starlight. It was almost unbelievable that Starlight did nothing to alleviate the situation the entire time, but at the same time, that was the kind of pony she really was.

"Alex, are you okay?!" I heard Athena gallop at my side.

"Here, let me look at you." Miss Cadence poked her head in front of me and delicately grabbed a hold of my face with her hooves. As soon as she did, I couldn't help but unintentionally flinch. "It looks like he scratched you up a bit…"

"I'm fine…" I said.

"Let's get you cleaned up." Miss Cadence suggested, helping me up and leading me out of the area while Athena followed closely behind.

As I left, I found the ice cream Shredder had taken splattered all over the ground. Any pieces of it that had been left were already melting off the stick. I felt myself looking away and closing my eyes as I growled deeply inside me.

After Miss Cadence helped patch me up a bit, I explained to her what had happened, and in return, she had explained how she had been there to stop the fight between Shredder and me. Apparently, after things were escalating far too much between us, Athena ran off to find Miss Cadence at the school, and when she did, they hurried as fast as they could over to me.

"I was so scared that you'd get hurt…" Athena admitted as she sadly looked away. "I just wanted the fight to stop…"

"I'm okay, Athena…" I assured her. "I just…wish he hadn't taken your ice cream…"

"I'm really sorry about what happened." Miss Cadence issued an unnecessary apology. "Shredder isn't the nicest pony around."

"I know. What kind of pony takes ice cream from a girl?" Athena asked half-seriously, half-jokingly.

"Here." Miss Cadence began an offer. "How about I treat you both to some ice cream instead? Whatever you want."

"I don't think that ice cream they had for the prize is out yet…" I mentioned bitterly.

Athena reacted with a sympathetic frown towards me, but she was able to perk herself up a bit as she turned back towards Miss Cadence. "Alex and I _really_ like cookies and cream."

"You've got it." Miss Cadence promised.

* * *

Afterwards, Miss Cadence allowed us to eat our treats on top of the school rooftop while she worked on the rest of her paperwork inside. However, I had absolutely no appetite for ice cream whatsoever. All I could do was keep thinking about what happened and how I possibly could have prevented it.

"It's going to melt." Athena softly warned in the middle of my thoughts.

"Hm." I measly responded with and continued to allow the ice cream to hang way below my lips.

It was quiet for a long moment. I could sense that Athena wanted to say something, but I supposed she didn't really know _what_ to say.

"…you okay?" She lightly leaned in closer towards me.

With a heavy heartfelt sigh, I answered her. "No. I'm not." Before she could respond to that, I continued speaking, willing to release these emotions I had been bottling up until now. "I finally wanted to give you something that I could afford to give you, and it would have been perfect if that _idiot_ hadn't ruined everything." I looked towards Athena with eyes on the verge of tearing up. "You may not know it, but you've helped me through so much. You've given me a purpose and a reason to do the best at whatever I do. If it wasn't for you, Athena, I don't think I'd be where I am today. I feel…strong…because of you. You deserve much more than this kind of life we live, Athena. And…as much as I want to give you that kind of life, I can't. I'm sorry…"

"What are you trying to say?" She questioned. "That you're not good enough? That's not true." She looked over her ice cream for a moment before staring off at the sight in front of us. "I feel the same way about you, you know? I don't like it when you're red like with Shredder or when you're blue like right now. I always want the best for you." She chuckled unexpectedly. "In fact, as you've probably heard already, _I'm_ the one who thinks I'm not good enough. I owe you my life, after all." She reminded me of the time I saved her from drowning back when we were much younger. I supposed the 'bravery' and whatnot I had presented to save her was what got me my cutie mark. "And yet, you still go so far to please me. I don't care that Shredder ended up ruining the gift. All that matters to me is the thought you put into it. You wanted to do something special for my side of our birthday, and you _did_. But, I haven't…" She looked downwards with gloomy eyes. "Instead…it looks like I just made you worry."

"It's not like that." I quickly assured. "Your smile is all I really need. In fact, to me, at least, you have a way of making others around you smile. You can be so positive and upbeat, other ponies like me can't help but feel the same way. So, if you _really_ want to give me something for our birthday, please stop thinking things are your fault. Just smile and be yourself because that's what I really need right now."

Athena remained silent for a short moment as she took in my words. After, she shifted the frown on her face and formed a beaming smile. "Okay then. Fine. If you still think that you need to give me something for our birthday, then how about this? You forget anything that happened today is your fault too, and _you_ smile and be yourself. That's what I _really_ want."

There it is. That was her almighty power. Seeing her undying spirit caused my frown to disappear and a smile to take its place.

"Yeah. Of course."

When we finished up our ice cream, she scooched in a little closer to me and planted a kiss on my cheek.

"Love you, Alex." She stated with the warmest grin she could pull out.

Observing closely at how she harmonized with the sunset in front of us, I couldn't help but match my smile with hers. "Love you too, Athena."


	6. Day 7 - Trio

Day 7 – Trio

* * *

 _What happened the day before was a real bummer, but the most important thing was that we still had each other. I could see there was still a little blue in you, and I was hoping I could fix you up in the next few days. However, it turned out that whatever little blue was left quickly began to melt away when she came along._

* * *

Summer had begun to quickly turn into a bore. Apparently, no pony still seemed to have a job for us. We were still broke, and there didn't seem to be anything that we could do for free. I almost wanted to scavenge the town for some kind of job, but the idea of doing that sort of ticked me off. Athena and I were still pretty young, and ponies our age were hanging with their friends during this vacation. Why did we have to be so different from everypony else?

Athena and I had been lying on the grass outside staring up at the clouds. It was almost as if we were trying to tan our coats or something. We silently remained lying by each other until we unexpectedly heard another voice by us.

"Hey, guys…"

The two of us nearly threw ourselves upwards.

"Coco?" Athena questioned the sight of her. "What are you doing here?"

"Um…" She appeared hesitant to reply. "I don't know… I thought that maybe we could hang out…"

"Of course!" Athena immediately beamed with happiness. "That'd be amazing, right Alex?!" She slyly nudged me.

"Y-yeah." I agreed. "We aren't really doing anything though…"

"That's okay." Coco walked over to us and took a seat right next to _me_. My heart definitely skipped a beat. "I've been having to be by myself for so long. It's nice to just be around others."

"Working on your stuff?" Athena asked.

"Yeah." Coco returned a sheepish grin. "Things like that."

"I'd like to see your work sometime."

"Oh!" Coco reached around herself, pulling out her schoolbag that she had brought along again. "I've actually got some sketches. You want to see those?"

"No way!" Athena suddenly threw herself in front of me, leaning over to take a closer at Coco's sketchbook. "You draw too?"

"Well, I design dresses…" Coco returned with a semi-heavy blush. "I don't do portraits or anything like that."

"Still, it's so cool that you draw!" Athena carefully grabbed a hold of her sketchbook and began looking through it. "I like to doodle every now and then, but I really wish I had more art supplies. I've only been able to make due with ordinary pencils and a notebook."

"Oh, really?" Coco responded with a hint of intrigue to her voice. "I think I've got some extra sketchbooks and pencils around. I can give you some of the supplies I don't need or use."

"Really?!" Athena's face lit up in a flash at the sound of this. "That would be awesomesauce!"

"I'll bring them tomorrow." Coco revealed a warm yet bright grin at Athena's reaction.

I couldn't help but notice how easy it seemed to be for Coco to talk to Athena. I kind of wished we would talk the same way as well.

"Wow, Coco! This dress looks amazing!" Athena pointed at a particular design.

In return, Coco leaned over to take a look and suddenly grew unexpectedly close to me. It didn't seem that she noticed as she had been focused on what Athena had been talking about. I tried so hard to ignore it and not make such a big deal about it, but the fact that her coat was brushing against mine made it nearly impossible. Unintentionally, I believed I was able to sniff out a sweet scent coming from her mane. I wondered if it was her shampoo or something.

I felt that it had been wrong to be so close to her, even though it wasn't my doing. I tried to make some room between us, but I suppose my sudden shift in movement caused me to accidentally bump her and make her evidently aware of how close she was to me. With a heavy blush, she immediately pulled away and returned to her spot. She remained extremely quiet and if she had been suddenly struck mute.

I turned towards Athena, feeling as if I had been dying with embarrassment. However, Athena only gestured her head as clearly as she could without making it too obvious. She mouthed me certain words through clenched teeth. I didn't quite grasp them until she was forced to whisper them.

" _Talk. To. Her._ "

What the hay am I supposed to say?! Especially after something like that?!

" _Com. Pli. Ment."_

I sighed as silently yet heavily as I could. I _really_ didn't want to risk making things worse, but I was pushed to make that risk.

"Um…" I finally awkwardly said. "I really like your hair, Coco."

It was the first thing that popped up in my mind, and I was so close to making that compliment into a hesitant question.

Coco glanced over to me in surprise, and I could notice that she was getting even redder. She held a hoof to her mane and slightly brushed it. "T-t-thank you…"

To make matters worse, I wanted Athena to do or say something to really break the ice open, but she actually proceeded to make things much more difficult between us. "Oh, yeah! I'll be right back! I think I forgot to do something back in the house!" It was obvious to me that she had been lying. I tried to reach out to her, but she planted a hoof in front of her and demanded I stayed with her expressive eyes. Afterwards, she began to skip away, but I assumed she hid somewhere nearby and proceeded to watch us from afar.

For what felt like long agonizing hours, I could only sit there desperately trying to think of something to make conversation with, but I couldn't think of anything satisfactory.

"So, how have you been?" I finally blurted out. I just wanted the silence between us to disappear already.

"G-good…" She responded very softly while rubbing her foreleg repeatedly. "…y-you…?"

"Same…" I rubbed my head anxiously.

Why couldn't I talk normally with her?! Honestly, she was really just a girl! A sweet one at that… So why couldn't I just have a normal conversation as I would with Athena?

"I saw you yesterday…" I barely heard unexpectedly. "…you were…really cool."

"Yesterday?" I paused to remember. "You mean that ice cream event?"

She lightly nodded. "I was hoping you'd win, and I really am glad that you did."

"Thanks." I replied, beginning to feel a little sad as I began remembering what had happened afterwards. "In the end, it didn't turn out as great as I had been hoping for, but…" I was almost going to start rambling, but then I suddenly realized something about what Coco had been saying. "Wait. You were there?"

"Mm-hm." She answered, picking the dirt below us with her hoof. "I didn't see much, but I did get to see you win. I wanted to stop by…but you and Athena were already kind of in the middle of something. I didn't want to bother you two, and I was in the middle of getting back home anyway."

"Oh, I see." I remained silent for a moment. There had been some kind of feeling inside me for her that I wanted to express so bad, but I knew I obviously couldn't. "You should really hang with us a lot more, Coco. I'd really like that, and I know Athena would too."

"Really?" Coco's ears slightly perked up.

"Yeah." I nodded. "I wanna…know you more." For a second, I almost worriedly deeply if that was too much to say. "You seem like a really cool girl, too, and it feels like only my sister knows that side of you."

"You know…" Coco mentioned as she stared at her hoof on the ground. "I think maybe I _could_ hang out with you guys every day. We're out of school right now, after all, so the only kind of work I need to do is with my dressmaking. I can probably come over right after I've finished a day's work. Hey…" She tapped her hooves in loveable embarrassment. "Maybe when I'm done…I can…show you?"

"Yeah, of course!" I almost felt energetic with glee. "That'd be really cool."

It appeared she finally grew comfortable enough to smile softly. "I'll try to come over and hang out with you guys more then."

At that point, I really wanted to hug her. I couldn't tell if it was due to excitement or happiness from the thought of her being with us or more, or if it was something else even more embarrassing. There were many more things I wanted to get into with Coco, but I decided I was lucky enough for all that we had talked about up until now.

Athena eventually returned, and I had to guess that she would have been purposely gone for way longer, but Coco probably would have gotten worried and ask her questions on what had been going on. Nevertheless, she continued to hang with us a little while longer.

I wished she would have felt completely comfortable with staying with us, but because of her parents, she couldn't stay as long as she wanted. Either way, as long as we got to see her more often, I was more than happy to wait for her.


	7. Day 10 - Sea

Day 10 – Sea

* * *

 _Coco had managed to spend time with us every day since, and I especially liked it when the two of you were able to talk to each other. The conversation between the both of you wasn't perfect, but I could definitely feel and even see the love coming from both of you. I guess you could say things were starting to look up. You were pretty close in getting a girlfriend, and I know I was waiting to be absolutely ecstatic for when that time would come._

 _However, neither one of us thought our luck would run short. It was as if a whole stack of bad luck dominos lined up to fall after teasing us with some good luck beforehoof. We had been in our room, but it was mostly because I was having so much fun using the materials Coco had given me for drawing. You just hung around, but I think you were too busy thinking about the one pony we had been waiting to see later on in the day. It was at this moment where everything began making a turn for the worst._

* * *

"Get packed." An extremely stern and deep voice popped open my thought bubble.

"Huh?" I turned away from the window I had been gazing out of to find our dad with one hoof past the door of our room.

"We're leaving in five days, so start packing your things now." The tone of his voice sounded both annoyed yet dead. Nevertheless, I had grown extremely puzzled. He was just about to step out of the room before I stopped him.

"Wait! What do you mean we're leaving?"

"We're _moving_ out of Fillydelphia. That's all you need to know."

"What?!" I immediately stood up in shock. "Why?!"

"None of your business." He appeared to be on the verge of shouting. "Now start packing!"

The door to our room had been slammed shut, causing a few of Athena's hung drawings to fall from the wall.

"Moving…?!" My mind grew blank.

Athena surprisingly appeared to be a lot calmer than I was. She closed her sketchbook and approached me by my side. "You okay?"

It was at this moment when I realized everything we'd be losing here, despite not having much to begin with. "What's going to happen with Coco?! And what about Miss Cadence?! If we leave Fillydelphia, then that means we aren't going to have her next year!"

"Maybe it's just for a while…" Athena hoped. "Maybe just for the summer?"

"That's true…" Athena's idea calmed me a little, but I still didn't feel great about the entire situation we had been pushed in. It didn't help that our dad wasn't giving us any more details on the sudden topic. However, I wanted to believe that it was going to be, at most, just for the summer. We still needed to finish school here, and this _was_ our home for as long as we remembered after all.

We began hearing voices outside our door. Athena glanced at me and then back at the door. She quietly signaled me to follow her, and we slowly crawled over to the door. Athena cautiously opened the door until we were given a sliver of space to look through.

"Did you finally tell them?" Our mom had confronted our dad.

"Yes. They already know, so quit worrying about it."

"Did we really have to leave so soon?"

"Filthy Rich needs my help with some things, and he's willing to pay a lot for it. I'm not missing that opportunity."

Afterwards, our dad finished the conversation by walking away in an irritated kind of manner.

Athena carefully closed the door shut and looked towards me.

"Must be _a lot_ of things if we're going to be _moving_ wherever it is we're going." Athena mentioned.

I heavily sighed, mostly with only one thing on my mind. "What are we going to tell Coco?"

Athena thought to herself for a moment before she seemed to stretch out a short smile. "Maybe this isn't so bad?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, finding her reaction unpleasant considering our situation.

"We're going to be moving, so this might finally be the time to confess how you feel about her!" Athena pointed out suddenly, causing me to quickly stumble over my response.

"W-w-what?!" I practically choked. "I can't do that! We've only been talking for a few days! You really think it's going to go so smoothly?!"

"But you've _known_ her for a lot longer, Alex!" Athena attempted to encourage. "You two were just too shy to talk to each other. After all, it's not like you're asking her to marry you. You just want her to know how you feel about her before you leave. Worst case scenario, she won't know how to answer, and she'll have for as long as we'll be gone to think about it. But I really think that's not going to happen! I even think that maybe you'll two kiss!"

" _Athena!_ " I was utterly shocked by the bombardment of surprises she was unloading towards me. I almost sounded like a parent who heard their child saying some pretty foul language. "What are you thinking?!"

"Yeah, yeah." She brushed off. "I know you think I'm crazy, but I'm a girl, remember? Coco's also a girl. I know what a girl like Coco wants!"

I shook my head and proceeded to climb on top of our bed. "I've got to think about this." I turned my head towards the window and felt myself zoning out again. "First, we're moving, and now, 'confessing how I feel' to Coco? Everything's happening way too fast…"

"Well…" Athena joined me, pressing herself against me as our bed was pretty small to begin with. "Maybe it's all happening for a reason, you know?"

I only heavily sighed before feeling myself become lost in my thoughts. "Who knows…"

Time had passed, and the light from the sun was beginning to die out. I began worrying about Coco. She had shown up pretty late once or twice, but I don't believe she ever showed up in the middle of the night. At the rate things were going, she'd come by when it was already dark. That's _if_ she was going to show up.

* * *

I violently shook and sat up as soon as I heard a loud whip of thunder roar through the nearby skies. I had been asleep, and I had no idea when that had happened. I turned to my right to find Athena napping besides me. I sighed lightly and turned towards the window. Thoughts of the future began to plague my mind, and my mind would have completely wandered off until I realized what had been occuring outside our room.

"A storm?" I noticed the dark clouds above us. At first, there was a light drizzle against the window, but the rain had suddenly escalated to a full-on assault. There was so much water that all that there was left was a blurry mess on the glass. I immediately began to feel a pinch inside me, and Coco was the first thing on my mind. "What if Coco's out there?!" I spoke quietly to myself.

I tried to calm myself by believing that she wouldn't be out here in the rain in the first place, but I couldn't just brush it off. If she saw rain coming, would she still try to see us? Or would she just stay home? I began thinking of a bunch of reasons why Coco would obviously stay home, but my heart just wouldn't accept it.

Finally, I stopped fidgeting around and accepted what I had to do. I decided I would go out and check. I wanted to make sure she was safely inside her home. I knew it seemed a little overboard, but my heart wouldn't accept anything less. Maybe it was the post trauma of almost seeing Athena drown before my very eyes. Either way, it was something I felt I needed to do.

I jumped off the bed as softly as I could without waking Athena. Afterwards, I searched for my hoodie and quickly threw it on as soon as I had found it. Slipping the hood on, I took a glance towards Athena's sleeping face.

"Don't worry. I'll be back." I whispered before I opened the door to our room and proceeded to make my way outside.

* * *

My worry grew when I felt the semi-heavy winds brush against me. I trotted for a while, tugging at my hoodie as I moved. It had already been dark out, and there were only lights coming from the street lamps to guide me through.

While keeping my eyes peeled out for Coco, the thoughts in my head continued to bother me. I constantly wondered if I was stupid to be looking out for Coco like this. If every pony wasn't out, then why would she be? Obviously, she's smart enough to know when to turn back! However, at the same time, it felt as if there was a leash around my heart, and it was forcefully pulling me out to do this search.

At that point, I remembered something crucial. I believed that this wasn't the first time I had felt something like this. When I thought back to when Athena almost lost her life, I remembered that there was this exact pinching inside me that caused me to check up on her, even though I thought she wouldn't be in trouble. If that's the case this time, then I definitely need make sure Coco's alright!

I had been following the path Athena and I would take to school since I had seen Coco on this path every now and then. If I couldn't find her this way, then I planned to find her at home, despite how weird that idea seemed.

I reached the shops that Athena and I would stop by before getting to school. Obviously, they were closed, and I was just about to skip on ahead until something caught my eye. There had been something lying in front of Mr. Orange's shop underneath the storefront cover, and the rain was dangerously close to reaching it.

I took a detour and brought myself underneath cover. Having a break from being pummeled with water, I took a closer look at this object on the ground. Some pony must have forgotten this here. However, after inspecting this item long enough, I realized that it had been a bag and not just any bag.

"This is Coco's bag…!" I thought out loud. "…but…why is it...?!"

" _ **Heeeeeelp!**_ " I heard an extremely loud cry nearby.

I immediately turned towards the source and found the spot where all the water from the area had been rushing towards. It had been the water grate that was on the ground, but there was a major difference compared to the last time I saw it. As soon as I saw a broken space big enough for a pony to fall through, I gasped sharply.

I galloped as fast as I could, occasionally losing my balance and slipping along the way. As soon as I arrived at the scene, I found a pony trembling greatly at the bottom of this enclosed space. Flashbacks surged through my head, and for a second, I almost saw Athena in Coco's place. When I was able to finally shake them off and snap out of it, I quickly pressed my body against the floor and stuck out my hoof.

"Coco!" I shouted.

"Alex!" Coco's face turned towards me, revealing her eyes which had been brimming with fearful tears. "Help me!"

"Grab my hoof! Come on!" I instructed.

She stretched out her foreleg as much as she could, but it pained me to see that it wasn't enough. Our hooves were still inches apart. I wanted to force myself to move inwards more, but I couldn't. If I did, I'd end up finding myself stuck inside with her!

I retracted my hoof and growled, feeling the pressure and frustration of the situation begin to overwhelm me. I looked around my surroundings, but I couldn't find a single thing that could help us in this situation. One option was running out and calling for help, but who knew when I'd be able to make it back in time!?

Graaaghh! If only I had wings or magic!

When I turned towards Coco, she was only giving me a set of pleading and helpless eyes. She was almost ready to burst out in a frightened sob. I couldn't leave her alone. I was able to rescue Athena on my own, and I'm not going to give up until I do the same for Coco!

I was about to return to Mr. Orange's shop to see if I could find something I could use, but Coco suddenly called my name out.

"Alex, wait! Don't leave me!" She cried out.

As much I didn't want to hurt her anymore, I needed to step away for _just_ a few seconds to look for something to help get her out. "I'll be back, Coco!" I promised. "I just need to find something to get you out. I promise I won't leave you! I'm going to get you out, even if it's the last thing I do!"

"H-h-hurry, please!" She begged, glancing towards the water that was slowly rising.

I ran back towards the shop and immediately looked around. Since the shop was closed, I couldn't rummage around inside to see if anything useful was in there. I needed something ASAP. I remembered Coco's bag and turned over to it. I picked it up and inspected it one more time. Maybe I could lower this down to her, have her grab ahold of it, and then pick her up with it?

However, the thought of the bag tearing apart or even having it slip away from my hooves caused me to shake off this option. I couldn't bear the thought of Coco falling and hurting herself even more than she possibly had already. I dropped the bag back on the ground and continued to look over any other possible options. Was it possible that I could just give her some extra ground, so she could actually reach my hoof?!

I had been staring at the wooden walls of Mr. Orange's shop. There had been certain pieces that Mr. Orange had planned to replace, but he hadn't really gotten around to it for some reason. I pressed my hoof against a certain piece and noticed it had felt a little flimsy instead of a solid like the others parts of his wall.

If I can get some of this wood out and over to Coco, I can get her to lay it at an angle, giving her enough of a boost to hold on to me so I could pull her up! However, I also realized what I would be doing because of this. Technically, I would be vandalizing, and it might have a negative impact on Mr. Orange's shop as well.

I shook everything out of my mind that didn't pertain to saving Coco. She was counting on me, and I wasn't going to let her go!

"Sorry, Mr. Orange…" I raised my hindlegs and aimed them towards this flimsy piece of wood. With all of my might, I kicked the wood as hard as I could. With each impact, I could hear the crunching and cracking, and chips and pieces of the dying lumber were being flung over to me. After a moment of endless kicking, I found that I had caused quite a bit of damage to his wall, and it definitely hurt me to see a victim of my destruction. Nevertheless, at that moment, I had to ignore it and proceed to break apart the rest of the wood.

Once I was able to separate a good chunk of it out of the wall, I carried it with my teeth and brought it over to the open grate. It appeared Coco had been trying to sort of climb a high distance from the point she had been on, but due to the rain gushing down, every part of the grate walls had been absolutely slippery.

"Coco!" I grabbed her attention. "Stand back!" She pushed herself towards the back end of the enclosure as much as she could, allowing me to throw in the chunk of wood I had. "Use that and place it at angle that you climb on top of!"

It appeared she needed the majority of the interior of the grate to tilt the wood downwards enough to stand on. When she placed a hoof on it, she returned a hesitant whine. "W-w-what if it breaks?!"

"You just gotta get on it long enough for your hoof to reach me!" I told her. "Come on, Coco! I wanna get you out of there as soon as I can!" I had already begun lying on the soaked floor and stretched out my hoof as far as I could.

Despite looking absolutely terrified, she slowly began to climb on top of the wood. At first, she appeared to lose her balance for a moment, but as soon as she stabilized herself, she turned towards me. I assumed she noticed how closer she was to me, despite still being a little far, because she immediately began reaching towards me.

At last, I was finally able to touch her hoof. I quickly grabbed her and tightened my grip. I began to pull her up, but I wasn't sure if I was strong enough to make any progress in getting her out. Growing aggressively frustrated, I brought my other hoof and signaled her to reach out with her free foreleg.

When I had a better grip of her, I finally began pulling with everything I had. At that point, I didn't care if I threw out my back or even caused worse damage to myself. The more I saw Coco being raised up and away from her prison, the more motivated I felt. When she was finally halfway out, I grabbed her by her sides and gave one last forceful pull.

Next thing I knew, I was lying on the ground, completely soaked and practically wheezing for air. My heart was still racing, but it eventually began to slow down. I began to push myself back up, but I had suddenly been tackled back down.

"Alex!" She threw her forelegs around my neck and tightened her grip. "Thank you… Thank you!"

"Coco…" I responded, still a little out of breath. "I'm just…glad you're safe…"

I patted her lightly, causing her to release her grip on me and pull back. As I sat upwards, my eyes met with hers. She had been bawling, and the trembling expression on her face had been exaggerated by the rain that bombarded her.

"Are you alright?" I asked her with the upmost care. "Did you hurt yourself anywhere?"

She shook her head. "I'm fine…"

We attempted to dry off under Mr. Orange's cover, but all it did was stop our coats from soaking up more of the rain.

"What were you doing here, Coco?" I asked almost like a frantic parent.

"I…" Coco seemed to hesitate. "…I wanted to see you…" She mentioned timidly. "By the time I finished at home, it was already getting late. My parents didn't want me to go out, but I… _really_ wanted to see you." I could tell she was trying so hard not to cry, but her voice would break every now and then. "So… I snuck out…"

"Coco…" I reacted in a soft yet surprised kind of manner.

"I'm so cold…" She said as I began to notice her shivering.

I glanced over my body. "I would give you my hoodie, but I'm afraid it wouldn't do you any good. I'm completely soaked too…"

All of sudden, she threw herself against me and nestled her head on my chest as if I had been a warm pillow. I wasn't sure whether if she wanted comfort, body heat, or both from that embrace, but I didn't complain. There was a warmth coming from her side to me, and I believed this was the most intimate we've ever gotten with each other.

We continued to hold each other for a long while until I felt her pull away. When she did, our eyes were soon drawn towards each other once again. I wasn't sure on how she felt, but I, for one, seemed to completely forget about the storm outside. Everything had grown deafened and mute except for our breathing. Before I knew it, her lips had grown closer to mine, and I wasn't sure which one of us had been pushing forward. Either way, at that point, I didn't care about anything else.

I closed my eyes and patiently waited for our lips to meet. I could feel her hooves slightly tightening around my neck, and eventually, I felt a great wave of ecstasy surge throughout my body. However, it didn't last long. A loud roar of thunder caused Coco to jolt back and whimper into my chest. After witnessing a flash of lightning for myself, I decided it would be best to get her back home as soon as possible.

* * *

Using what little I could remember about Coco's whereabouts, along with her murmured directions, I led her towards her doorstep. It saddened me that I couldn't at least keep her from getting soaked even more along the way. I almost wanted to bring her back home with Athena and me, seeing as she went through something really traumatic. I didn't want her to be alone here, but considering how both of our parents were, it's something that wouldn't work out.

Before Coco opened her front door, she began to turn towards me.

"I…"

I shook my head. "You need to get inside. I don't want you to get sick. We'll talk tomorrow, okay?"

She hesitantly nodded. "Okay…" She opened the door, and I was planning to watch her until she was completely inside.

However, I was surprised to hear a couple of frantic voices.

"Coco?! Just _where_ in Equestria were you?!" A mare scolded inside.

"Do you know how worried we were?!" A stallion followed.

"What _happened to you?!_ " I noticed, what must have been her mom, approach Coco closely and press her hooves caringly on her face and mane. "You look absolutely terrible! Just what were you doing out there?!" Her mother continued to bombard Coco with questions as her father brought over a towel for Coco.

Before Coco could calmly answer any of them, her mother managed to catch me at her doorstep. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to leave or not, but I _did_ want to make sure Coco would be alright.

"What did you _do_ to my daughter?!" She barked rather aggressively.

"W-what?!" Speaking was suddenly hardly an option. My mind became blank, and my throat began to squeeze shut.

"N-no, mom!" Coco cried out. "He help—"

"You're the reason my daughter went out when she wasn't supposed to, and now she looks like a mess! You conniving hooligan! She would never disobey her parents!"

"Mom!" Coco tried to explain. "He didn't do anything! It's my fau—!"

"Go to your room, Coco!" Her father sternly ordered. Afterwards, he stepped by her mother's side and doubled the number of daggers that had been staring at me in the face. "If I ever catch you with my daughter again, I'll be sure to make your life a living Tartarus!"

After beating me with an assault of swears and foul language, he ordered me to leave his property. I had no choice. Even if I could bring up any kind of words to explain their misunderstanding, they looked ready to physically assault me right then and there. All I could do was slowly turn around and walk away, feeling their cold glares from behind until I was no longer near their home.

It didn't look like this would be something that needed time to heal. Whether it was my currently pessimistic mood or not, I didn't think I'd be able to see Coco again. At least, I wouldn't be able to see her for a very long time.

Banishing me like some kind of criminal. Were her parents _that_ protective of her? Or was I just that hated?


	8. Day 11 - Broken

Day 11 – Broken

* * *

 _That night, when you went out to rescue Coco, that's when I began having these weird dreams. Dreams about ponies I've never even met before in my life. One of them revolved specifically around a couple of princesses. Princess Luna and Princess Celestia. However, I couldn't understand them at the time, and seeing as I couldn't remember all the details after waking up, I usually brushed them off as some random make-believe dreams. However, I didn't think they'd be so important until later on._

 _Our father caught wind of what happened that night with Coco. I assumed since the two of you had gone to school together, it wasn't that hard for her parents to eventually contact yours. Let me tell you. Our father was fuming. It also didn't take long for him to piece together that you were the one who "vandalized" Mr. Orange's shop. So, grabbing your coat by the neck, he practically dragged you over to his shop to make things right._

* * *

"Apologize right now!" My dad ordered. I could tell he was doing his best to keep his burning aggression from showing.

"Really! It's nothing!" Mr. Orange attempted to reason with him. "I'm sure it was an accident! I know he would never do anything like this on purpose."

"This boy has always been a troublemaker." My dad rebuked. "He took an innocent classmate of his and caused her to get into trouble." I could feel him subtly kick me from behind. " _Apologize._ " He yelled through gritted teeth.

Before Mr. Orange could refuse any further, I decided to get it over with.

"I'm really sorry…" I announced. Even if I had no deviant intentions, I really meant every word I said. I didn't want to vandalize any part of Mr. Orange's shop, but I didn't know what else to do. Maybe there was a better way, but knowing that Coco was on the verge of drowning, I couldn't think clearly. If only I could go back in time and stop her from trying to see me to begin with…

"He's going to be working with you for the next few days." My dad strictly stated. "You don't pay him a single thing. He's going to be working off the damage he's caused to your shop."

"Don't you think that's a bit too much?" Mr. Orange tried to object. "There's really no need—"

My dad suddenly glanced over to his shoulder. Athena had accompanied us for my sake, and she had only been silently watching our discussion with a frown full of sorrow. "Athena's going to be working here too. Same thing with her. Don't pay her a bit."

"What?!" An outburst suddenly slipped out of me. "No! She didn't do anything! Leave her out of this!"

I noticed my dad had raised a hoof against me, but he stopped himself before he went off in public. "She should have stopped you from going out and causing trouble in the first place. She's just as guilty as you are."

"But—!"

"It's okay, Alex." Athena settled before I could argue any further. "I don't mind."

"Starting from now, the two of you are working here. You will not be given any special treatment, nor will you be given any kind of reward. You do not leave this place until it is closed, and I expect you to here as soon as it's open. I will be coming to check on you two, and you better not let me catch the two of you slacking off or missing from doing your work. _Am I clear?_ "

We just wanted him gone, so we had to muster all of our strength to suck it up and agree to his demands. "Yes, sir." He continued glaring at us before he walked off without another word. We could hear Mr. Orange sigh behind us.

"It doesn't sound like I can convince your dad, huh?"

Athena shook her head. "No one can."

"I really don't want to make you two do this." He admitted. "But it sounds like your dad is going to give you a harder time if he catches you not doing any work here."

"It's okay…" I mentioned quite depressingly. "I don't want to cause any more trouble…for anyone anymore."

I eventually told Mr. Orange about what had really happened, and he was the only adult that seemed to completely understand. He told me that something like this was going to happen sooner or later, considering how the situation with the water grate was never fixed. Despite how much bad had fallen onto me, at the very least, the water grate had to be fixed sooner than expected now. There was bound to be a bunch of concerned parents calling about this after hearing what happened. In other words, if I wasn't already, I was probably going to become a pariah, but for good reasons at least.

Mr. Orange tried to take it easy on us, but he knew he couldn't safely have us not doing any kind of work because of the shark that patrolled around us every now and then. Personally, I wasn't against doing any kind of work. I did cause damage to his shop. Whether it was for good reasons or not, I still felt the need to pay him back for it.

Athena seemed to feel the same way, even though she never even took part in what happened last night. It seemed that she only wanted to be there for me through the bad times. Because I saw how much she was willing to sacrifice to be there for me when I secretly really needed her, my love for her grew even more.

In the end, Athena was the only pony I could really count on, and I couldn't bear the thought of losing the only source of love in my life.


	9. Day 15 - Goodbye Fillydelphia

Day 15 – Goodbye Fillydelphia

* * *

 _We spent the remaining days working for Mr. Orange under a constant eye from our father. Eventually, the day we were to leave Fillydelphia for an unknown amount of time came. We didn't have much to pack to begin with, so we only needed the night before to grab our essentials and tuck them into our schoolbags._

 _I knew you weren't able to sleep that night, and I felt guilty for it. So much had happened in those past few days, and it didn't help that we were swarmed with a huge amount of bad luck just when we thought things were looking bright. I was at a point where I was willing to do anything to make you feel better, but in actuality, nothing I could offer to do seemed to help at all._

* * *

Once we heard the steam hiss and the train blow its horn, we knew it was time to walk aboard. However, I couldn't bring myself to move my legs so easily. I looked around the train station to find no one besides Athena by my side. I suppose I had been secretly hoping Coco would somehow show up, but she didn't.

I wasn't sure if she even knew we were leaving, especially since I didn't get to tell her. After all, I didn't think finding her that rainy night would be the last time I saw her. I was desperately hoping that the only reason we hadn't seen each other since then was because of her parents, but I felt my hopes dying. Unfortunately, those hopes were being replaced by the thought of Coco intentionally forgetting and ignoring me. Maybe I wasn't good enough for her after all.

"Alex, we should get on the train…" Athena placed a hoof on my back, subtly urging me to move forward.

At that moment, an unexpected thought crossed my head. For a second, I almost just wanted to grab Athena's hoof and run. I just wanted the two of us to be away from everything and everyone. However, thinking logically, such dramatic moves only really worked in fairytales.

"Yeah…" I agreed softly before stepping onto the train.

Athena and I had the opportunity to sit away from our family, which was the least bit of luck we could have after our exhausting week. We sat at a corner of the train and waited for our ride to start moving.

"Where do you think we're going?" Athena asked.

"Guess we'll find out when we get there." I muttered back, deeply unconcerned with our destination. Unless it was magically going to change our lives for the better, I wasn't interested at all.

As soon as the train started moving, I moved my eyes toward the window. I kept an eye on the ponies remaining on the station side. For a second, I almost believed that I saw Coco staring at me from a crowd surrounding her, but I knew it was too good to be true. I knew it was just my mind playing tricks on me and toying with my feelings. Once the train completely left the station, I knew I would have to let her go. I couldn't keep her in my mind any longer because it would only cloud up who's really the most important to me.

I noticed Athena had rested her head on my shoulder. It appeared that she hadn't really gotten any sleep either, and I knew I was the only one to blame for that. It was just another reason why I had to leave Coco behind.

"You okay, Athena?" I asked.

She lightly opened up her eyes and pulled away, so she could look at me properly. "I've been asking you that the entire time."

"I'm fine." I stated without really knowing for myself.

"You know, Alex…" Athena appeared hesitant over her next choice of words. "I don't think there's really anything to worry about. I know things seem bad now, but, to be honest, I think we can still work things out. Maybe a break from Fillydelphia is what we need. Maybe by the time we come back, Coco's parents will come to their senses, and then maybe we can try to convince them how everything that happened was just a misunderstanding…!"

Her excitement seemed to die out when she noticed no change in my mood. I only shook my head before coming up with something to respond with.

"From now on…you're the only pony I'll have close to me." I decided.

Athena lightly gasped. Her eyes slowly fell towards the floor, and, eventually, she turned her back against the seat and appeared to wordlessly think to herself. For the rest of the ride, silence seemed to take the seat between us.

* * *

There was a loud hiss before the train came to a complete stop. I had been keeping an eye outside for the entire time, but it seemed that I was so distracted by my thoughts that I hadn't even realized that we stopped moving.

"We're here." Athena said.

The train stated appeared to be much smaller than the one in Fillydelphia, and from what I could see past the station, there was a lot of green.

Athena decided to take my hoof and get me up and moving, later guiding me out of the train and onto the station. Outside, we had been lagging behind a bit to take in the scenery, but our dad was growing rather impatient.

"Move it." He sternly ordered, glancing back at us for only a second before he kept walking.

I suppose there wasn't _much_ to look at anyway. Within a short amount of time, we found ourselves at our apparently new and temporary home. Once inside, we were pretty much shown to our given room. I couldn't tell if it was bigger or smaller than our room in Fillydelphia, but I could honestly care less. Right now, how big our room was didn't matter at all.

"Do you want to go out and explore the town?" Athena recommended after the two of us dropped our bags on the floor.

"Eh. I don't know…" I felt a little unmotivated to do anything.

"Come on, Alex." Athena approached me and began to slightly tug on my coat in encouragement. "What is it that you _really_ want? Name it! Anything!"

I sighed and stared upwards towards the ceiling. It wasn't the first time Athena had asked me that question. However, despite how moody I had been feeling, I kind of felt a craving for something sweet.

"Actually…I think I could go for a big ol cake right about now…" I thought out loud.

"Done!" Athena surprisingly returned. "Let's go see if we can find a bakery around here!"

I turned to her and looked at her as if she was a little crazy. "Maybe you forgot…but we're broke?"

"Are we?" Athena turned to her bag and went through her things before she brought out a small pouch. I could hear coins jiggle inside, startling me.

"Where'd you get that?!" I almost shouted out loud.

Athena took a glance behind her, looking as if she was making sure the door was closed. "Mr. Orange gave it to me." She explained. "He said he felt bad for us working for him the way we did. I didn't want to take it, but he insisted. He also said we deserved it."

"He really did that…?" I turned my eyes away, beginning to feel a little depressed.

Athena shook her head at my reaction. "No time for moping. It's cake time. Let's go!" She grabbed my hoof and began leading me out of our room.

"Where are you two off to?" I could hear our dad demand the answer out of us.

"We're just going to look around this place!" Athena brightly responded.

"If I find you two causing trouble again…"

"We won't!" Athena cheerfully exclaimed back before we left through the front door and were finally met with the outside without any disturbances.

"Now…for the bakery…" Athena searched around with a hoof above her eyes.

Asking around a bit, we were pointed in the right direction and told we'd see it as soon as we hit Sugarcube Corner. It was pretty obvious that the ponies we asked were surprised to see us, considering our eyes, but thankfully, they didn't make such a big fuss about it.

"That's totally it!" Athena pointed towards a building that almost exactly resembled a gingerbread house. It seemed the sight of the decorative building excited Athena. I had to admit, I didn't really blame her. Bakeries in Fillydelphia were mostly plain and unexpressive. Athena began skipping in joy until she reached the door and swiftly opened it.

"Welcome to Sugarcube Corner!" A cheery greeting followed the chiming bell above the doorway. "What can I get for you today?"

Athena pranced over to the counter where the bubbly mare had greeted us from. "We want a—!"

"Hold on a second! Don't tell me!" The mare held out a hoof in front of Athena and thought to herself for a moment, murmuring incoherent sentences under her breath until she spoke loudly once more. "You want a cake, right?! Two slices of our grand three-layer chocolate-fudge supreme with a nice lotus flower hugging a sweet strawberry on top?!"

Athena was taken aback by this mare's prediction. We had decided on cake beforehoof, but we never stopped to think about the exact details of the cake. "I don't know what that is…but sign us up!" Athena fetched the money from her bag and dropped it onto the counter. The other mare happily hummed as she retrieved the coins and wrote down our order. She proceeded to rip the note out of her notepad and somehow hold it up with the tip of her hair. "Hey, cool eyes!" She complimented. "I _knew_ I hadn't seen any of you around here before. Are you two new to Ponyville?!"

"Thanks!" Athena was fairly surprised to receive a compliment, seeing as others usually looked at us as if we were some strange aliens out of this world. "We are. We just dropped in this morning. I guess our dad is here on business or something, so I don't know how long we're going to be here."

"Super!" She returned. "My name is Pinkie Pie! Who might you two fine ponies be?"

"I'm Athena!" Athena excitedly introduced. "And this is my brother, Alex!" She went ahead and grabbed my hoof to pull me alongside her.

"Hi, Athena! Hi, Alex!" Pinkie Pie personally exchanged a warm greeting towards each of us. "I hope we can be friends! I'm friends with practically _everyone_ in this town."

"Really?! That's so cool! Of course, we can be friends!" Athena agreed without any sign of hesitation whatsoever.

To be honest, I couldn't help but cheer up a bit from this bubbly pony's friendly behavior. She was so much like Athena, it was almost too good to be true. Nevertheless, the damage back from Fillydelphia still lingered within me. "Yeah…" I tried to present the same kind of attitude, but it was clearly miniscule compared to Athena and Pinkie Pie.

"Awesome! I've got to show you around town sometime! Lemme get your order in first, though." Pinkie Pie hurriedly raced into the kitchen.

"Holy smokes." Athena turned to me with an astonishing shimmer in her eyes. "She's amazing! I really like her already!"

"She is _something_ alright." I responded.

After a few seconds, she hopped out and appeared back behind the counter. "Anything else I can help you with?"

Actually, there was something on my mind I had been wanting to ask around here. It was a new place, so I was hoping I'd have some luck.

"Do you know if any place is hiring around here?" I asked. "We could use some work."

"Hm…" Pinkie Pie poked her cheek with her hoof as she tilted her head and looked upwards. "Ooh! You should try Sweet Apple Acres! My friend Applejack and her family own this huge farm, and they're _always_ working every day. I'm not sure if they're hiring anypony, but I, for one, think they could definitely use some help. They've only got like what, three ponies working with a bazillion acres of land? I don't know how they do it! Either way, you can go see if they could use the help!"

That doesn't sound too bad. After all, I guess we wouldn't have to really deal with too many ponies if we're working on a farm.

"Cool! We'll check it out!" Athena accepted.

"Why don't you go right now?" Pinkie suggested. "It's…that-away!" She stood still for a moment before her tail suddenly twitch and awkwardly pointed at a certain direction. "Your order should be finished by the time you come back."

"What do you think, Alex?" Athena turned to me for my answer.

"Sounds good." I responded, willing to check the place out.

"Let me know how it goes!" Pinkie smiled as brightly as she could while enthusiastically waving us goodbye.

* * *

Strangely using Pinkie Pie's tail as a guide, we eventually managed to find a farm a bit out of town. For a moment, all we could see were fields of mostly trees that grew apples. However, we reached a sign with the words Sweet Apple Acres, beyond that was a huge red barn.

We couldn't find any pony at all, and we had no idea if they might have been working in the fields. If that was the case, it would take forever to find them. Athena and I looked towards each other. We could only share a shrug, seeing as we had no idea on what to do at this point.

"Can I help ya'll with somethin'?"

Athena and I flinched and immediately spun around to find some pony standing by us with an empty wooden cart behind her. When she had a clear view of our faces, she, just like the majority of every pony else meeting us for the first time, had the same kind of stunned reaction when taking a good look at each of our eyes. Nevertheless, she didn't mention anything about them. Ironically, I couldn't help but notice her freckles. For some reason, I kind of felt relieved seeing some other pony who carried an uncommon facial feature.

"This is Sweet Apple Acres, right?" Athena spoke for me. "We were wondering if you might have any work for us." She ended with a sweet smile.

This mare observed us for a few seconds before rubbing her chin. "Strange. Don't think we've ever really had ponies lookin' to work here. You new?"

"Uh, yeah. We just came in from Fillydelphia this morning." Athena answered.

"Fillydelphia, huh?" She appeared to continue to observe us before she shook her head. "Where are my manners? Name's Applejack." She held out a hoof. "How bout ya'll?"

"Athena!" Athena was the first to respond and accept the hoofshake.

"Alex." I proceeded next.

"Nice to meet ya'll." Applejack continued. "About your work, I can't really say if we have anythin'. I mean, we got lots of work, but we've usually been fine without any more help."

"We'll take anything really." I decided to add in. "It doesn't have to be full-time. It can be a few days or something."

Applejack returned to rubbing her chin and looked downwards in thought. "You know… I think you two mighta just came at the right time. Do you know anythin' about Zap Apple Jam?"

Athena and I turned towards each other, but we only shared an expression of confusion. "Never heard of it." Athena responded.

"Well, you see, they're _magic_ apples, and once they're ripe enough for pickin' we've only got a day to pick em all before they all _vanish_."

"Apples can do that?!" Athena inquired about as her jaw look dangerously close to hanging wide open.

" _These_ apples can. If you two are looking for work, we might just love to have you aboard in picking these apples. Seeing as there's only two of us that do all the work, we always have a hard time pickin' every one of them."

"Well, we'd like any work you can give us." I felt myself grow a little more enthused.

"Great! I'll go talk to my Granny Smith. We're supposed to pick them apples tomorrow. Will you two be able to show up _really_ early in the morning?"

I didn't exactly like the idea of showing up _early_ , but the fact that we'd actually be making some money for the first time in a long while sounded motivating enough to get me up at practically anytime.

"Totally!" Athena accepted quickly.

"Alrighty then! I'll have to talk to Granny about this after I'm finished with my work, so why don't the two of you show up around dawn? I'll let ya know if Granny's okay with ya getting paid."

"We can do that." Athena sent me an exaggerated grin.

"See ya tomorrow then!" Applejack was just about to continue pulling the cart behind her past us until she suddenly stopped as if remembering something out of the blue. "Oh yeah. If you see a bunch of stormy rainy clouds on the way over here, don't fret! It's just a part of the Zap Apple Jam process."

"Got it…" I answered in a rather puzzled manner. Whether it was okay to get paid or not, I was still intrigued enough to come and see what exactly these Zap Apples were all about.

"Hey!" Athena bumped me with her leg after watching Applejack walk away towards the barn. "Let's go check on our order!"

* * *

We returned to Sugarcube Corner shortly after, and Pinkie Pie immediately recognized us as soon as we walked in.

"Hi! There you are!" She acknowledged as we approached the counter. "Your order is ready to go!"

Catching up with Pinkie's seemingly natural energetic rhythm, Athena licked her lips in anticipation. "I can't wait!"

"Is there anything else you want?" Pinkie asked. "We got loads of more sugary goodness to satisfy any sweet tooth!"

Athena turned to me with a bright smile. "You know what? Let's add some triple chocolate cookies! How about it?!"

Before I could tell Athena that her addition was a little unnecessary, Pinkie didn't hesitate to be on the move. "Got it! Coming up!"

"You're really splurging today, aren't you, Athena?" I asked, slightly concerned about her.

"Why shouldn't I?" She countered. "I don't want today to be a depressive one. We need to look at the brighter side of everyday, you know?"

I didn't necessarily disagree with her there, but I felt her goals were somewhat too much of a stretch to handle easily. "Geez… I know we're twins, but you and me are like the sun and the moon. Day and night."

" _But~_." Athena leaned in towards me as she stretched this in exaggeration. "They may be different, but they work so well together! You can't have one without the other. Remember that!"

"Since when did you get so philosophical?" I questioned the rare side of her I hardly saw.

"Here you go!" Pinkie Pie had unexpectedly intervened into our conversation and brought out our orders. "Will that be for here or to go?"

Athena shared another glance towards me as she responded with her answer. "Better be on the safe side and have it here. Don't want a certain someone finding out."

On the other hoof, Pinkie Pie took it rather lightheartedly. "Ooh! Are you guys planning a surprise party for somepony?! I can totally help! You see, I've been secretly building up files on every— Wait! I can't tell you that or it wouldn't be a secret! Anyway, I can totally help with parties! It's kind of my thing! I've got an arrangement of party plans like…"

I knew that Pinkie Pie had been a kind of free-spirited pony like Athena, based on her bubbly attitude, but I suppose I never guessed that she could be an extreme chatterbox at times too. It took a while before Pinkie had to stop her incoherent rambling to help another customer. When that happened, Athena and I were finally allowed to partake in our delicious meal of desserts.

Unfortunately, we didn't have any magic, so we couldn't properly use a fork to our advantage. Instead, Athena happily insisted on the idea of feeding each other. In other words, she would use her mouth to move the fork and feed me cake with it and vice versa. I found this extremely unnecessary and embarrassing to me, but seeing as the entirety of these sweets were her treat to cheer me up, I couldn't deny her gesture. Seriously, despite her quirks, she was honestly the best sister I could ever have.

* * *

We decided to return home after we were finished up at Sugarcube Corner. I had to admit that Pinkie Pie seemed like a really nice pony, and it was pretty amazing that she was so willing to be friends with us right off the bat. However, the thing that prevented me from getting too friendly with her was the fact that we'd be leaving back to Fillydelphia eventually. Athena and I didn't know when, since our dad never liked to let us in on "family decisions", but I, for one, didn't want to build up a relationship with Pinkie Pie only to have it shatter when we'd have to move back. I still didn't know what I was going to do with Coco, but I didn't want to think about it.

Athena and I were about to return to our room until our dad stopped us in the living room for some reason.

"Where were you two?" He asked in a controlling kind of manner, rather than a parent's natural concern.

"I told you, dad." Athena answered. "We were just out walking around town."

He seemed to eye Athena carefully. I didn't know what his deal was, but he was paying much more attention to Athena than to me for a change. After a moment of uncomfortable silence, he turned towards me. "You. Outside. I need to talk with your sister."

I suddenly felt my protective instincts switch on. "What? Why?" I felt my rebellious side kick in. I didn't like the idea of Athena being alone with him at all, knowing firsthoof about his anger.

" _Go. Outside._ " He proceeded to push through his gritted teeth.

Athena quickly signaled me that she'd be okay.

In the end, I had to force myself to step outside. I wasn't sure if this expression was accurate, but I felt like a robot without any oil when it came to following my father's order.

I didn't know what he expected me to do, but I remained strictly by the door to the house. I tried keeping an ear open, but I suppose that that was the main reason why he wanted me outside. There were too many things, such as the outside noise and the thick wooden barrier between the interior and me, that kept me from hearing anything at all. I continued standing by the front door while tapping my hoof impatiently. I was worried that he might do _something_ to her, given his violent nature against me. All I could do was wait, but should I feel the extreme need to, I wouldn't be able to stop myself from barging in.

Unexpectedly, there was this vigorous shake of my heart, and the next thing I knew, I was being tackled down to the ground by somepony. Before I could figure out who it was, all I could hear was wailing and sobbing.

" _Alex!"_

"Athena?!" I immediately recognized her voice and was extremely shocked to find her in the condition she was. "What happened?!"

"He-he-he was going to hit me…!" She cried. "I told him to stop, but-but it wasn't until—!"

As much as I wanted to comfort Athena, I let the rage that had awakened inside get the better of me. I stormed into the house looking straight for this despicable being. I caught him leaving our room with his infamous leather strap that held numerous tooth marks indented in.

"What do you think you're doing?!" I shouted out loud.

"You better shut your trap, boy." He muttered aggressively. "Where is she?!"

"You're not going anywhere near her!" I exclaimed and firmly planted myself in his way.

Of course, that was enough to charge headfirst into the lion's den.

* * *

I had lost track of time during the middle of it, and it didn't seem until he had tired himself out when he finally stopped. I could hear him fuming through his nostrils as he walked away, and I was left with my body aching all over.

Athena began treating me as much as she could in our room, but, in all honesty, there was nothing she could really do. I was going to have to sit through the pain until it finally stopped. However, I considered the pain worth it, as long as Athena was safe.

"I'm so sorry…" Athena apologized with a trembling voice. "This is all my fault…"

I tried my best not to groan or grunt as I spoke with her, but it was nearly impossible to keep myself from displaying my inflictions. "No, it isn't. It's that crazy old coot." I muttered with disdain.

Athena shook her head. "He found stupid frosting on my coat, and then he found out that we ate cake with the money Mr. Orange gave me. He got so mad. He got even more mad when I wouldn't give him the money. Then…something weird happened…!" Athena sounded like she was on the verge of shouting. "I—!" She suddenly cut herself off and sighed heavily. "When I saw you two at it, I didn't know what to do. I wanted to stop it, but I didn't know how. You were turning red again, and I don't like that side of you, Alex…"

"I wasn't going to let him touch you, Athena!" I felt a sudden burst of strength that allowed me to raise my voice and clearly expose my feelings for her. "It was my fault for letting him even get close like that."

"Alex…" Athena began to sniffle as her eyes twitched from the tears that formulated in her eyes.

"It's over." I told her before she could possibly continue to place the blame on herself. "It's in the past. Let's just try to get some sleep, so we can put this day behind us."

It seemed she didn't have anything else to say. She only nodded and wrapped her hooves caringly around me. Since I was sore, this motion added a bit towards the pile of pain I had already been enduring, but I gratefully accepted it for the simple reason that it was her.

"I love you, Alex." Athena seemed to feel the need to voice.

"I love you too, Athena." I returned evocatively.

That night, Athena stayed closer to me than usual, and I returned the exact favor. She wanted to be there to care for me, and I wanted to be there to watch over and protect her.

However, given our current state, I wasn't sure if that was a blessing or a curse.


	10. Day 16 - Bits

Day 16 – Bits

* * *

 _We had woken up extra early because of our potential job dealing with Zap Apple Jam. Unfortunately, I could tell you were still sore from yesterday. You were the one always looking out and taking care of me, so it felt kind of strange when it was the other way around. As much as I didn't want you to push yourself, you seemed determined to see things through._

 _You might have been able to fool the Apples into thinking that you had been in great condition at the time, but it didn't keep me from worrying over you. Either way, before we could start picking these Zap Apples they constantly talked about, we got to witness some great magic before our eyes._

 _There wasn't a unicorn or pegasus in sight, but storms brewed up all of a sudden. Immediately after, we were greeted with the type of strong winds that could easily overwhelm a foal. There was thunder and lightning, and, for some reason, it was only at the Apple farm that this storm took place. We didn't understand any of it, and I didn't think either of us ever would._

 _Finally, when the storm cleared, a rainbow suddenly shot out of one surging apples and literally zapped all the apples in the vicinity. When one apple would catch the rainbow, it would immediately spread to nearby ones, and it continued like a chain reaction. We continued observing this miraculous display of magic until it ultimately ended with a colorful aura hovering over the entire acre._

* * *

"It's time to get apickin'!" Applejack announced as she stood on her hindlegs and circled her hooves in the air.

"You better git straight at it too!" Granny Smith, the elderly pony Applejack had introduced to us, ordered. She was pretty much our boss today. "The more you pick, the more I'm willing to pay you youngsters! If you manage to pick every zap apple in sight before they disappear, I'd be mighty impressed!"

"Come on, now!" Applejack instructed us like a supervisor. "Don't dilly-dally now. Let's follow what Granny says and get right to it!" She turned towards the other pony she introduced to us; her big brother she liked to call Big Mac. "Big Mac and I will take this side. Why don't you two start over there?" She pointed towards a particular spot.

"Got it!" Athena returned confidently before guiding me towards said spot. "Come on, Alex!"

From what I could see, there were more buckets spread out than there were trees. We were supposed to snatch and pick as many apples as we could and put them in those buckets. Overall, it was pretty straightforward. I even wondered why they didn't just a hire unicorn to pick them all with their magic instead of us normal earth ponies. I supposed it was probably a traditional thing or something like that.

I was doing okay within the first hour of our labor, but things started to get annoying after a while. I'd feel a light amount of pain, but due to the constant physical labor, the soreness started to get worse and even more annoying. It wasn't _bad_ , but it was definitely getting in the way of unleashing my full potential with my work.

Every now and then, I wanted to stop and curse our father, but doing so would obviously only make things worse. In fact, he'd be the one winning if I did that. I'd attempt to shake off any thoughts of him anytime they entered my mind as we worked, but that didn't stop Athena from making sure I was doing okay. Of course, I had to stretch the truth a bit and tell her I was feeling better than I was actually doing, but even then, she always seemed to be pretty good at telling when I was lying or not.

Nevertheless, I hadn't expected Applejack to pop in now and then and offer us some home-brewed sweet tea. It was nice to see that she didn't seem to care more about us getting the work done as soon as possible over our health.

Apparently, she hadn't noticed the bruises and bumps I had from yesterday when we first arrived at the farm in the morning. She had just started to ask about them now during our short break before we'd continue picking these zap apples.

"Hey, are you alright?" She directed at me with a concerned look on her face. "Looks like you got some scrapes. You didn't hurt yourself trying to pick them apples, did you?"

I quickly shook my head. I didn't want there being any chance of being sent home because of my condition. "No, I'm fine. They're from yesterday." I sucked up my pain and technically told the truth. "It's nothing."

"We've still got some hours left before we're done for today." She mentioned. "Looks like you two have been doing a mighty good job at picking these apples. We've almost got the entire place cleared out. However, I don't want you two pushin' yourselves too hard. If you're hurtin', you don't need to keep goin'."

Who knew when we'd be able to get another job opportunity like this? I wanted to take full advantage of it, and I didn't want to let some stupid pain get in the way of it. "Thanks, Applejack." I sincerely expressed. "But, I'm fine, really. I can keep going until the end of the day."

"Well, alright, then." Applejack didn't look entirely convinced, but she allowed it to pass. "But, just keep what I said in mind, alright?"

"Got it." I finished the last of my tea and turned towards Athena who had ended her break earlier than me to make up what I hadn't been able to do. "Here, let me help."

* * *

At the end of the day, we had filled up quite a load of buckets throughout the area. We definitely didn't pick as much as the other duo of siblings did across our work area, but we actually managed to clear out the majority of the area. However, I noticed that there had been a few zap apples still remaining on some trees, and it practically killed me when I saw them zap away like Applejack said they would.

Had I not been pushing enough through the pain I had been enduring the entire day, I was sure I would have been able to pick those last apples. In fact, I'm pretty sure we would have been able to pick the whole area clean.

"Nice work, you two." Applejack approached and congratulated us. Although, I could feel her subtly pay more attention to me. I guessed she was still concerned over how I was doing. "We were able to get a lot more done than usual."

Are you sure about that? It's what I wanted to say, but we weren't exactly friends. In a way, I didn't think it was exactly professional to bring up. I didn't want to rope our employer into my guilt-ridden feelings.

"So, all these apples that were picked…" Athena began inquiring. "You're going to turn them all into Zap Apple Jam?"

"Most of them, yeah." Applejack responded. "Some, we'll keep for ourselves and make some tasty apple treats. And, believe me, they are outta this _world._ Say, why don't you join us for dinner then? I'm sure the family would love to have you over. It's thanks for helping us out, anyway." In the middle of her offer, she suddenly paused and held a hoof up. "I reckon you're wonderin' about your pay. Not to fret. I promise you'll get what you worked for by the end of the week." Once she got that out of the way, she revealed a warm and inviting smile towards us. "You could join us for some Zap Apple dinner then."

Athena appeared to be genuinely looking forward to her invitation. She shared her reaction with me and nodded her head. "Sure! That sounds great!"

It beats having dinner at our house. I'm sure Athena was thinking the same thing.

"Great!" Applejack exclaimed cheerfully. "I'll catch yall then!"

After we took our leave from the farm, I felt my hooves being dragged across the ground as I forced myself to keep walking. I couldn't wait until we got back home, so I could jump in bed and just take it easy for the rest of the night.

"I told you I didn't want you to push yourself, Alex…" Athena, now with a lightly somber look, reminded me.

"I'm fine." I repeated to her. "Once we get home, I'll start feeling better."

"I'll run you a bath." Athena was quick to offer. "I'm sure a hot bath will soothe those sore muscles. I'm just worried that you won't have enough time to relax. Starlight might come pounding in to use the bathroom. We might have to wait until late at night or something…"

"That actually sounds pretty good right about now…" I already began imagining myself relaxing in tranquility inside the tub. I remembered one of the good things about being home alone all the time, and that was Athena and I being allowed to relax in the bath for as long as we wanted.

"I still have some of the money Mr. Orange gave us." Athena mentioned. "I can go look for some pain medication for you at the store or something."

I shook my head. "I wouldn't want you to waste it. I'll be fine with that hot bath you were talking about."

"You sure?"

I nodded my head. "Yeah."

This led Athena to revealing an unconvinced purse of her lips. "Hm."

* * *

At home, we found that the family seemed to be missing. Athena and I assumed that they possibly went to go out to eat somewhere. Nevertheless, we decided to take full advantage of the situation, seeing as it'd be quite a while before they returned home.

Athena readied the tub and helped me in. Once I was inside, I was able to finally sit down and released an immensely relieved gasp.

"I wish we had some of those bubble thingies." Athena mentioned as she lightly swished her hoof in the warm water. "I really love those."

"That's ironic." I couldn't help but respond. "Coming from the pony who doesn't like being in water?"

"Geez, you make it sound like I'm terrified of the smallest drop." She returned an unamused frown for a moment. "As long as I'm with you, it's not so scary. Not at all, actually, because I know you're with me." She slipped out a giggle. "And having bubbles with the water? It's a lot less scary. It's fun!"

"Alright then." I began to bring up an idea. "When we get our pay from Sweet Apple Acres, how about we spend some of it for those 'bubble thingies'?" I managed to playfully tease her.

"Really?"

I nodded. "If it makes you happy."

"As long as it isn't expensive or anything, then I'm totally down!"

The two of us continued to soak in the tub for a while in silence as we hung our forelegs over the side of the tub. In fact, all we could hear were the small drops from the faucet that constantly fell onto the surrounding body of water. I was pretty close to knocking out until I heard Athena speak all of a sudden.

"Hey… Do you think we'll be together forever?" She asked.

"What kind of question is that?" I couldn't help but respond with.

"It's just…" Athena looked towards the tiled floor with a slightly grim expression. "Everypony usually goes and does their own thing when they grow up. Even siblings like us. They leave home and live on their own, and eventually, they start their own families and stuff."

"That doesn't mean we have to do that." I answered. "You've been practically the only pony I've ever really known. The only pony I could _really_ count and rely on. It's hard to imagine living someplace without you." I took a short moment to think to myself. "In fact, I want the two of us to get out of here as soon as possible and live together someplace else. Granted, it'll probably take a long while, but who knows? Maybe we can find jobs here in Ponyville and eventually find a place to stay. After all, this place is really laidback, and it's not so busy like Fillydelphia. I kind of like it."

"You really think we can do all that?" Athena asked me as she laid the side of her head against the tub wall.

"My heart wants to say yes." I responded. "But, as you and I already know, nothing ever goes exactly as planned in life. Either way, I want to say we _can_ do it. All we need is time…"

I could hear Athena lightly chuckle. "Maybe there's a way to fast forward time until then…"

"Huh?" I turned towards her, due to her somewhat muttered statement.

"Nothing." She shook her head. "I really hope we can get out of here and be together, Alex. There's practically nothing I'd want more."

"Then, let's work hard on finding some money and saving the majority of it." I advised. "If we save enough money, and we manage to find a stable job that pays a decent number of bits, then we might just be able to leave scot-free. I guess it just depends on our luck."

"I really hope so." Athena turned back towards the tiled floor. "Until that day comes, I can't wait."

Sensing how much Athena longed for that day to come, I began to feel even more motivated to make that dream a reality. I was willing to continue searching for work that would allow us to save up money now. We were probably going to be in Ponyville for quite a while, so there was no point in not making every day count. Who knows? If luck was on our side, we might be able to leave home as soon as we graduate.

Either way, I was willing to go through anything for her sake.


	11. Day 17 - Love Mosquito

Day 17 – Love Mosquito

* * *

 _Once again, we were stuck with pretty much nothing to do. The only thing we had to look forward to was Applejack's dinner and the bits we'd earn. If you ask me, I was at least glad we had made another friend. I almost couldn't wait to see what other friends awaited us, and I guess that was what made me want to explore the town a little more. If we were able to follow through on our dream and end up staying in Ponyville, it would have been absolutely nice to have ponies like Pinkie Pie and Applejack as our friends._

 _However, I didn't think this day would be the start of our last days together._

* * *

Athena had shaken me awake, so I could go with her on another walk through town. It was our third day here, and even though it was a much smaller town than Fillydelphia, we still hadn't gotten to see everything here. After all, we had spent the first day settling in and eating sweets at Sugarcube Corner. Then, we spent the day after with work, but I had high hopes that it'd be worth it once we got our bits. Either way, we were probably going to be in this town for quite a while, so there was no real rush.

Athena and I browsed through some stores, but we didn't stay for long when they didn't really have any eye-catching things. After all, it's not like we had much money to buy anything. Nevertheless, nothing really interested me too much, as usual. I continued to walk alongside Athena and accompany her to whatever she was interested with instead.

"Oh, look over here!" Athena pointed towards a building that was rather different design-wise. In other words, this building appeared to be formally flourished and aesthetically promising. "It looks new. Let's check out what's inside!"

I wasn't completely on board with going inside, seeing as the building itself appeared too feminine for my tastes. However, since it was for Athena, I decided to go in along with her.

"Finally! I can see it now! My very own boutique!" We began hearing as we walked in. We took a glance around, and it appeared that we were the only ponies in the shop. "Oh, the swarm of customers I'm going to have when I produce all of the designs living inside my sketches! It's going to be _fabulous_ _!"_

Athena was right. The place was definitely new. There was hardly any kind of merchandise up to browse or look through.

"Hello!" Athena took the liberty of shouting out cheerfully.

This unicorn had been eyeing a particular empty section of her shop before Athena had called out. When she had realized that ponies were inside her apparent shop, she turned around and gasped at the sight of us, dashing towards us. However, she paid attention particularly towards Athena. I guess it made sense. _"_ My very first customer! Yes, darling? What can I get you?" As she continued speaking, I took the time to have a good look at this pony. I had to admit…she was really beautiful, but sticking with reality, she was probably way out of my league. "I may not have anything here _per se,_ but I'd be happy to place in an order! Here, here!" She guided Athena towards the counter and opened up a sketchbook there, skimming through pages and tapping at them every now and then. "I may not have the finished designs with me here, _but_ I do have quite the variety to choose from right _here_. If you like something you see, by all means, tell me! I'd be happy to make any changes should you want something more on the original design."

"Ooh!" Athena finally received the opportunity to voice her reaction. "They all look so pretty!"

This pony appeared to study Athena for a moment. "Oh, you know what?! I believe I might just have something you'd absolutely adore! Stay right here!" She immediately raced up towards the second floor of this store. I never guessed a pony like her would be as excited and quick like Pinkie Pie.

"Wow…!" Athena continued to flip through the pages of the sketchbook lying on the counter. "They're all so beautiful! Isn't it weird, Alex?" She asked as she turned her head towards me. "She's almost just like Coco."

As soon as I heard that name, I sort of felt a shock surge through my body. I had almost forgotten all about her, and I honestly hadn't even noticed the similarities between this pony and Coco in relation to dressmaking. I couldn't help but my feel my mood turn sour.

"Oh… I didn't mean…" Athena seemed to try to apologize when she realized what she said.

I shook my head. I couldn't let something like that still bother me. "It's fine…" I tried to keep a bold face inside the store, but the more I tried to ignore thoughts of Coco, the more they kept wanting to fill my head. I decided to head outside to try to clear my mind. I didn't want my first impression towards this fashion pony to be a bad one anyway. "Hey, uh, while you're looking at dresses, I'm going to step outside really quick." I tried to say in a positive way.

"Okay…" Athena answered with her concerned gaze lingering on me as I exited the store.

* * *

Once I was outside, I closed my eyes and took a big gulp of air before slowly exhaling it out. I almost couldn't believe I was still letting something stupid like this bother me. I should have been over it, but my heart seemed to think otherwise.

It's just… I was so close to having a special somepony. I was so close to being able to experience a different kind of love for the first time. And I almost hate nothing more than being so close to achieving something only to fail at it at the very end. It absolutely infuriated me.

" _Psst!_ " I unexpectedly heard at a short distance from my side. I turned and noticed a familiar pony waving towards me. It looked like it was Pinkie Pie, but she had been wearing some kind of cloak for some reason… "Come over here!"

What could she want with me?

I decided to follow her, but she ended up taking me behind some nearby trees as if we were to have a private ultra-secret meeting or something. Once we were covered under this huge oak tree, I began to question Pinkie Pie over her sudden intentions. "What's this all about, Pinkie?" I asked. "Something you want to tell me?"

"Oh, I'm afraid I'm not this 'Pinkie' you speak of." She answered strangely.

"What the hay are you talking about?"

Before I got an answer, a green glow suddenly emitted from her and practically almost blinded me for several seconds. It wasn't until I was able to see where I found a completely different pony before me. In fact, I wasn't even sure if I could call this _being_ a pony.

Insect was the first word that came to mind, but unlike most insects, she was much taller than I was. I didn't know what to make of this. For the first few seconds, I could only stare absentmindedly at her before I felt myself back against the tree we were at. On the other hoof, she seemed to enjoy my reaction by showing off a little smirk on her distorted face.

"What are you?!" I exclaimed, beginning to have second thoughts of whether this was really happening or if it was a dream.

"I'm known as a 'changeling', darling." She lifted up my chin with her hoof as if I was a small foal. "In fact, I'm the queen of them. You may acknowledge me as Queen Chrysalis. Actually, you _should_."

I turned my head away from her hoof. "So, what? What do you want with me?"

"I'll have you know that you are _very_ lucky." Queen Chrysalis began to observe me all around in an extremely uncomfortable manner. "I'm not so very direct with other ponies, but I happened to find something very… _attractive_ and alluring about you."

"What's your deal?" I responded a bit angrily. "You're really creeping me out here."

Queen Chrysalis took this rather lightly and chuckled softly. "You have no ponies by your side, yet you have so much love to give. Why is that?"

I didn't care who this 'Queen Chrysalis' was. I wasn't going to bother with her if she was going to make things personal.

"Who do you think _you_ are?" I threw out bitterly.

"Playing hard to get, hm?" She returned, allowing her tongue to slip out and lick her lips. "That just makes me want you more."

This was ridiculous. This _had_ to be some unicorn playing some kind of prank on me. I had no idea who this 'Queen Chrysalis' was, and there was no way in Equestria she could know anything about me, especially if I was just a small simple Earth Pony out of many others.

"Very funny." I responded, my mood ultimately worsened. "I'm not dealing with you." I began to take my leave, and it appeared Chrysalis didn't follow.

"Don't worry, my little pony. We'll see each other very soon." She said before I had left her completely.

What a creep.

* * *

At the entrance to the shop I had left for just a moment, I found the pony, whom had been ecstatically excited to reveal her sketched designs, poking her head out the door as if she was searching for something. However, once she caught sight of me, she immediately began waving me in.

"You must see this! Come! Come!"

I should have been wondering what the big fuss was, but I couldn't help but feel uncomfortable from the confrontation with the strange pony linger in my mind. In fact, I felt the need to look behind me and towards the tree I had been taken to before feeling safe enough to move forward. She didn't appear to be lingering around there anymore, so I decided to take the first step into pretending it never happened.

Inside, I found an extremely unexpected surprise. Athena had been standing on a kind of podium, but I honestly was extremely close to not recognizing her if it weren't for her key features. For the first time in both of our lives, she had been wearing a dress. Even then, it wasn't _just_ a dress. It was a frilly but extremely elegant dress. I've hardly ever been around dresses, so I didn't even know how to describe everything in intricate detail. To put it simply, she was wearing a kind of a dress a princess would wear, and to top it all off, she had her hair moved around with the use of certain accessories. It all really just made her extremely stunning.

"What do you think?!" The shop owner beside me asked, yearning for my answer.

I was speechless. Instead, I found myself staring at the bright grin Athena had presented, but she seemed to grow more embarrassed the more I looked.

"It's that good, huh?" She lightly joked.

I managed to casually pull myself together and give her my answer. "Yeah, it's great. It really is. What about you? Do you like it?"

She twisted and maneuvered a little as she turned her head towards her body. "I totally love it." She mentioned with a little less excitement than I thought she'd have. As a matter of fact, she sighed a little afterwards. "It's just…there's no way I'd ever be able to afford it. This _has_ to be worth a ton."

"Oh, it's not _too_ expensive, darling. After all, I haven't integrated any jewels or gems." The designer responded. "If you'd like, we could negotiate a price?"

Athena shook her head. "I'd totally be interested in buying this dress, but I don't have much money to begin with." However, she sent a quick glance towards me. "Hey, how long do you think you'll have this dress for?"

"I'm still setting up shop, so I might not have many customers, as you can see." She chuckled. "Nevertheless, if you find the dress to your liking, I don't mind holding it for you for quite some time."

"Give me a few days." Athena requested. "I think I'll have a good chunk of money soon enough, so I'll stop by when I do, okay?"

"By all means, darling! Do take your time." She generously allowed and walked over to the counter. She pulled out something small and hovered it over to Athena with her magic. It appeared to be a business card. "Here you go!"

"Rarity, huh?" Athena grabbed a hold of the business card and studied it for a moment. "Pretty name! I'm Athena!"

"Fabulous to meet you, Athena. I think your name is simply divine!" Rarity closed her eyes and grinned for a moment before turning to me. "And who might you be, if I may ask?"

"Alex." I replied rather simply.

"He's my brother." Athena tacked on with a sense of pride.

"I can certainly see the resemblance." Rarity acknowledged, but I was pretty sure she wasn't talking about our personalities…

I got to witness Rarity remove the frilly garments off Athena's body and place her hair back the way it was before. With her magic, it was an extremely short process, and it explained how quick Athena had been dressed up back when I was outside. It was a big surprise to witness Athena in a dress for the first time. I hadn't even bothered wondering how she found herself in one so quick to begin with.

"I'll see you real soon, okay, Rarity?" Athena promised.

"I look forward to it!" Rarity shared the mutual feeling as she politely waved back.

As Athena and I walked back outside, I heard her sigh in somewhat delight.

"Haah. I can't wait to have something like that for my very own."

"I don't mean this in a bad way, but I never thought I'd see you in a dress." I mentioned honestly.

"I know, right?" Athena appeared to acknowledge. "I looked super cute, didn't I?"

She eagerly gawked at me until I'd give her the answer she had been waiting to hear. "Yes, Athena. You were cute." I felt myself turn away in embarrassment as I surrendered my voice for the moment. It wasn't like me to say such things.

"Speaking of cute, what do you think of Rarity?" Athena continued to pummel me with topics I found rather embarrassing. "She was _really_ pretty. You should try and talk to her more! Ooh! Maybe if you two start going out, I'll get a big discount on dresses!"

"Take it easy." I calmly suggested. "Don't you think you're going a little too far into the future?"

"Hm. I guess you're right." Athena agreed and turned to look forward at the path ahead of us. "Hey. Let's go through here. I can see a bunch of duckies and critters. Maybe it's a park?"

"Lead the way." I allowed, causing her to take notes from the bunnies in the vicinity and hop her way forward.

* * *

I began to wonder if this area we proceeded to explore was still part of Ponyville. In fact, all you could see was just green, as Athena would put it. There were huge open fields if not trees. Back in Fillydelphia, you'd see buildings and the like taking place of the vast uncluttered space.

The two of us continued to quietly walk along a stream until we eventually came across an unexpected pony who had been sitting in a particular part of this area by herself. I supposed she was just enjoying the scenery or something. I had planned to continue on and ignore her presence, but Athena decided to jump in and say hello.

"Hi!" Athena greeted.

The pony on the other end almost jumped onto her four legs once she heard Athena. With a short gasp, she turned in our direction and appeared to cower herself into a ball. She looked absolutely shaken by the sight of _Athena._ I found it ridiculous, seeing as Athena was one of the friendliest and socially inviting ponies you could ever meet.

"W-w-who are you?" I could barely hear from a few steps away.

"O-oh! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to startle you!" Athena attempted to apologize as meaningfully as she could. "I'm Athena. What about you?" Athena decided to wait for an answer from this timid-looking mare, but all she could get was a pony who could barely keep eye contact for a second. Having waited a while with no answer whatsoever, Athena began to rub the back of her head as if she was trapped in an awkward moment. "Haha, that's strange. You almost remind me of someone."

For some reason, the mare responded to this comment.

"I…I remind you of someone…?"

Athena nodded her head. "Yeah. She was kind of shy, just like you."

The moment I guessed the pony she had been speaking of, another voice swooped down from the skies.

"Looks like you're clear, Fluttershy! Not only would you be by yourself, but you wouldn't be too far from where _I'm_ gonna be staying at!" A pegasus had landed and retracted her wings as soon as her hooves touched the ground. However, as if a complete opposite to the pony she had been talking to, her voice was rather loud and proud. The one thing that caught my attention the most was the color of her hair. Never before have I seen a pony with her mane and tail dyed in a perfect rainbow. Was that natural?

Nevertheless, it looked like Athena wanted to introduce herself towards this new pony, but before she could say anything, this said pony caught wind of an uninvited duo and began to react rather defensively. "H-hey! What are _you_ doing here? This is supposed to be a private spot!"

"I-is it?" Athena stuttered just a bit. I supposed she wasn't expecting this kind of behavior at all, especially since the ponies we had met here were so friendly. "I didn't know. My brother and I are kind of new here and we were just walking around…"

This slightly aggressive pony didn't bother to pipe down a notch or two for some annoying reason.

"Well, Fluttershy here is not good around other ponies, so move along, buddy!"

Afterwards, she turned to speak with her apparent shy friend, and I decided we should just leave. I didn't even know this brash pony's name, and she was already getting on my nerves.

"Come on, Athena." I finally spoke, gesturing her away from the others. "I guess every town has its kooks." Of course, to be clear, I had only been talking about rainbow-colored one.

"I guess…" Athena responded and walked alongside me.

* * *

As we made our way back into town, I found Athena was still being a little too quiet for comfort. I figured the unexpected encounter was still on her mind and bothering her.

"Don't sweat it." I decided to tell her and snap her out of her thoughts. "You should already know the truth is that not everypony is going to want to be your friend." I began explaining as if I knew exactly what she was thinking. "Besides, you probably shouldn't take it to heart. I'm sure she had her own problems and insecurities. It's just the way that ponies are. After all, I'd be the same way with you if I thought anypony was trying to hurt you."

"Yeah… You're right." Athena decided to finally release a glimpse of her sweet smile. "We've met Pinkie, Applejack, and Rarity. I'd say that's practically _way_ more friends than we've made in our life. Well…considering ponies our ages…"

I followed her short burst of a giggle with a smile of my own. "You've got it, Nene."

Her cheeks soon became home to a red-infested blush. "You really haven't forgotten, have you?"

I felt my own set of laughter brewing within me as the memory resurfaced in my mind. "Ever since I made you laugh so hard that you let out a whinny that one time? How could I? Come on, you gotta admit the name's 'cute', just like you would say."

"It is…" Athena looked away in humiliation. "But for it to come from such an embarrassing moment…"

"I don't think it was embarrassing at all." I refuted.

"Well, you're not the one who made the noise, were you?!" Athena's joy spiked as she began to engage in a playful conversation with me. "Just wait! One day, I'll make you laugh so hard that you'll have a name of your own!"

"When pigs fly."

"Okay, then." Athena continued. "Next time we go to Applejack's, I'll see what I can do about that!"

As the two of us made our way home, our banter cheerfully continued.

….if I only knew that this would be the last time…


	12. Day 18 - Harmonious Tree

Day 18 – Harmonious Tree

* * *

 _Remember something I skipped over a while back? About the other reason I had wanted to spend time with you training for that competition back in Fillydelphia? You see…there was something I kind of…kept from you. I mean, not that it matters now, right?_

 _There were these group of girls…the same group of girls that caused my fear of drowning to exist in the first place. At first, I didn't know anything about them. Even to this day, I still hardly know much. However, something about them was so much more frightening than anything else at that time. I didn't know why, but these girls, the girls that called themselves the "Dazzlings", stalked me throughout my days in Fillydelphia._

 _It wasn't an everyday thing that I'd see them, just at random points in my life back then. If I could describe them in one word, I'd say that they were witches. They'd always come out of nowhere when I was alone, and I remember the things they'd say when they came for me._

 _Ironically, they seemed to act like your everyday bully, but I remember them coming for my "magic". Of course, I didn't understand what magic they could have possibly been talking about back then, and that's why they took advantage of me. It was another reason why I didn't tell you either. There was something about those girls that was dangerous, and I didn't want you to do something that'd end up getting you hurt. Besides the water incident, they'd never really hurt me. They'd come for the kind of magic or power I had within little helpless me and leave me be afterwards. I never thought much of it, but looking over it now, I believe that maybe it was one of the reasons I never got to witness that power for myself until their meeting was long overdue._

 _If I could give you an analogy to clear things up, I think it would go something like this. If you have a leak somewhere in a room you hardly go in, and you put a bucket to collect the water from that leak, it'd pretty much be like that leak never existed if you had someone other than yourself dump the leaked water from the bucket every now and then, right? That's how it was with me, and I can only assume that I never realized what kind of magic had been living inside earlier because of the Dazzilings and their thirst for said magic._

 _I really wanted to kick them out of my life for good, but it wasn't worth making things worse until I knew I was strong enough. For Celestia's sake, I always froze up whenever they popped up anywhere around me, and it didn't help that they always appeared when I least expected it. However, they didn't look like the sirens from the books. They looked like your average ponies with the difference being the necklaces they wore around their necks._

 _You might be a little confused right now. Twilight said that Star Swirl the Bearded was the one who banished them to another world, right? Well, there's two things about that. One, Twilight mentioned it about being a rumor, and it could simply just be that, a rumor. But, two, if it isn't a rumor, then maybe the sirens from the books weren't the same beings as the ones who followed me around for my magic._

 _If you want my thoughts on it, all I can say is that the Dazzlings didn't really act like "all powerful sirens". It was more like…they were lost girls that were only doing what they had to do to survive. Unfortunately, I'm sure things could have turned out way better than they actually did. They blame me for trapping them in that other world, and if you want to know why…well…listen up._

* * *

 _During the morning, something had stirred me awake. For some reason, I felt like somepony had been watching me from the outside. I looked out our window and even around our room, but I ultimately decided it was either nothing or just something from my dreams. The more I remained awake, the more I believed it was just that._

 _You were still asleep, and I decided it would be a neat idea to swing by Sugarcube Corner and grab something for us for breakfast. I know sweets aren't exactly "breakfast material", but muffins were, right? Anyway, after I grabbed my schoolbag and tiptoed out of our room, I began walking along the main road while trying to remember the exact way to the bakery._

 _Around the middle of the way, I noticed something unbelievable. For a second, I had seen a glimpse of someone from back home. She had been walking away from me, so I only got see most of her tail, but I could recognize that faded blueberry creamy colored tail anywhere. If I wasn't mistaken, I knew it was Coco Pommel._

 _I bet you're thinking the same thing I had been thinking at that time. What in the world was Coco Pommel doing in Ponyville? Did she come looking for you? Did her parents move here too? Whatever the case was, I'm sure you'd understand that I had to go see her, right? Well, that's what I did._

 _I began to follow her and even call out her name, but for some reason, she couldn't hear me. I'd try speeding up, but she was too fast. She'd turn into all these kinds of corners and it took me some time to get back on her trail. It wasn't until I caught her wandering into some kind of forest._

 _It was none other than the Everfree Forest, and I found that out myself as soon as I caught a look at the warning sign next to the entrance. The wooden sign looked a little weathered out, but I could read something along the lines of "Warning! Enter at your own risk! Dangerous creatures lurk inside!"_

 _Normally, I wasn't that stupid to wander in after reading something like that, but if that was the case, then I_ _ **had**_ _to get Coco Pommel out of there before she got too far inside. I was pretty scared, but I couldn't bear the thought of Coco being in there and finding herself into a lot of trouble. I didn't have the luxury of thinking things through, so I went in without almost any hesitation._

 _I supposed the best thing about walking through this forest at the time was that it wasn't night. I was at least thankful that I could see where I was going, and that there was somewhat a clear path through. Nevertheless, I kept hoping that I'd run into Coco soon enough, so the two of us could get out of there as soon as possible. I still couldn't figure out why she'd go in such a scary place._

 _Just several steps in, I had a bright precautionary idea. I checked the schoolbag I had been intending to use to carry our breakfast back home and managed to find my sketchbook nestled in there. I decided to keep notes and track my way in, so I wouldn't get lost and forget where the exit/entrance was. In other words, I made a map as I walked through. I couldn't keep updating the map as I walked since I didn't have any magic to carry the sketchbook and pencil freely, so I had to stop whenever there was any kind of change in the path I walked and take down my progress there._

 _I spent quite a while making sure not to stray off the main path and managed to see something in the distance that wasn't crooked with swampy or dead trees. As I grew closer, I noticed that it appeared to be some kind of grand old castle. Of course, it didn't look like anyone still used it…_

 _I had been staring at this castle as I walked for so long that I almost found myself falling over into some kind of super deep crater in the ground. When I was finally able to regain both my composure and balance after witnessing this grand height, I surprisingly found a set of stairs that so happened to be leading towards the bottom of the canyon._

 _I eyed both this area and the castle. I hadn't found Coco yet, but she possibly could have headed towards one of those two areas. I inched towards checking the castle first, but then I found myself walking towards the hole outside. I figured it'd be best to check the crater before the castle, seeing as it was somewhat open and outside. After all, I'd rather have this place covered before it possibly gets any darker._

 _As carefully and cautiously as I could, I made my way down the steps. By the time I had reached the bottom, I felt my legs constantly shaking as if they wanted to give out. It wasn't because of all the energy I had to exert to get here, but it was from the fear that had been slowly growing inside me. I had been so close to booking it and trying to come up with another way to find Coco, but I continued to force myself for the sake of her safety._

 _Even though I wasn't exactly sure it was a good idea, I decided to call out for her. There was no answer, but in the process, I managed to find somewhat of a cave structure within this massive hole I was in. If my eyes weren't mistaken, something appeared to be glowing from the cave. I actually felt some kind of relief when I saw this, because, whatever the case was, I wouldn't have to look for Coco in a super dark and scary cave._

 _Unwilling to waste any time, I lightly trotted over to this area and couldn't help but gasp as soon as my eyes caught sight of it. Out of everything I had seen in the forest, what had laid in this cave was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Even though there was no water, I immediately pictured some kind of lake or pond that was lined up with lotus blossoms in my mind. I believed a few large gems were lined up across the walls of the cave, but the most significant-looking thing inside was this crystalized tree._

 _In fact, it hardly looked like your natural tree, but, for me, it reminded me of a Hearth's Warming tree. You should already know the tree I'm talking about. The tree we know as the Tree of Harmony. Of course, I had to take a closer look. Something about it made me feel…safe… It made me even feel…at home._

 _Weird, right? Being in this super creepy forest?_

 _When I was close enough, I raised my hoof and laid it on this tree. Its bark was obviously crystal, but it wasn't exactly cold to the touch. There was some kind of warm radiance coming from it, and I didn't understand how. Was this tree magic?_

" _It's you."_

 _I lurched backwards when I heard a sudden yet soft voice._

" _One of my stripped seeds…but…may I ask where the other is?"_

 _I quickly looked around for the one who was responsible for speaking, but as I did, I found no one. Not a single pony in sight._

" _Do not be afraid. No harm will come to you."_

 _This voice sounded…empty, almost like you couldn't put a face behind it. However, for some reason, I could picture the voice belonging to a mare. I had no choice but to look back towards the tree._

" _Are you…speaking to me…?" I asked._

" _Indeed." I heard back._

 _I felt myself immediately gulp anxiously. I couldn't believe that this had been actually happening._

" _Who…What are you…?"_

" _I protect this land, but I am afraid it won't last long unless the Elements of Harmony return to me."_

"… _Elements of Harmony?"_

 _Those words immediately clicked somewhere in my mind. I had heard about them before, but I couldn't remember exactly how at the time._

" _If you'd ever be so kind to retrieve and return them soon, I'd be eternally grateful."_

" _Sorry…" I apologized. "…but I have no idea what you're talking about. Even if I did, I don't know where these things you're asking for even are."_

 _Then, there was what sounded like a mature chuckle._

" _You two are connected."_

" _Two?" I had to wonder about that for a moment, and the first thing that came to mind was us two. "You mean, Alex? My brother?"_

" _If that is his name, yes. You two play an important role with these Elements."_

" _No way… This has to be a dream…" I believed at first._

" _The two of you carry a length of extraordinary ability with you." The voice continued to speak. "Sprouts of mine, find, learn, and use it to protect yourself and others. If need be, use it to help find the Elements and bring them to me."_

" _Abilities?" I immediately questioned. "What are you…?" Then, a particular event came to mind. The time when our dad tried to hurt me, and everything froze in place as if_ _ **I**_ _stopped_ _ **time**_. " _If you know so much about me…then…can you explain why time seemed to freeze when I was scared? How is that even possible? Can I_ _ **actually**_ _control time?"_

 _There was a great moment of silence. It lasted so long that I was just about to reiterate my question until this voice suddenly spoke once again. "Can you?"_

 _Hearing this answer after a matter of waiting, I felt a little peeved. I was being super serious because I was scared of what I had done. "Just tell me the truth if you know so much about me." I yearned. "I want to know why I'm so different. I want to know what's so wrong about me!"_

" _There is nothing wrong about or with you." I heard. "You simply do what your heart desires, both of you. However, if you wish to extraordinarily exceed your limits and potential, you two must remain by each other's side, for it is the bond you two share that will shine the light down the darkest and deepest places."_

 _I didn't know what to think. I knew I definitely couldn't just brush this off as nothing. In fact, I was more willing to believe practically everything I heard because of all the abnormal things I personally have been able to experience, such as time freezing and being able to see colors that resembled how other ponies truly felt._

 _I had already begun to bust out my sketchbook and pencil to draw this tree out in its entirety, but after noticing the cover of my sketchbook, I realized I had forgotten something. As much as I wanted to draw this tree and run home to you to show you what I had come across, I still needed to find somepony I had been searching for._

" _I'll be back!" I promised the tree and began to race back up the stairs out of the cavern._

 _I had been growing utterly terrified before, but for some reason, I felt reinvigorated. I definitely felt it had something to do with the tree. Either way, I couldn't waste this newfound burst of energy or inspiration. I had to find Coco, take a quick sketch of the tree if I had time, and leave this forest back to Ponyville._

 _The last place I could check was the abandoned castle from earlier. As soon as I was able to get the creaky front doors open, I was immediately welcomed by an army of cobwebs. Like presumably every girl, I was absolutely not a fan of things like that. Nevertheless, I stepped inside the castle and felt a little more comfortable shouting for Coco's name._

 _The castle looked like another maze in a maze itself, so I needed to keep notes of it in my sketchbook as well. I explored what I could as quickly as I could. I definitely didn't want to stick around too long. I'd poke my head in various rooms, only giving a few shouts out for Coco before leaving them. A lot of the rooms were dark, seeing as they didn't have any windows to the outside and needed a lantern or candle to see through._

 _Eventually, I found myself with what obviously looked like the library. More like the library of spiders and webs. I continued to call for Coco with my only answer being the echo of my voice. When I found my way up to the second floor, I found a particular table that caught my interest. First and foremost, there was a chair that had been tilted backwards as if it was about to fall. However, it's action had been frozen. I grew a little worried that I had frozen time again, but seeing as that was the only frozen thing, I figured I was good for now._

 _I grew closer to this particular chair, so I could take a closer look at it. I looked at its legs and noticed something solid and shiny keeping this chair on the ground. It kind of looked like a mechanism or something. Although, as I glanced around my surroundings, I soon lost interest in the chair and found myself more intrigued with something that was beside me._

 _There was some kind of secret passageway, by the looks of it. The bookshelves positioned nearby seemed to have been moved, and it was pretty obvious they weren't supposed to be there since they blocked access to the nearby bookshelves. Unlike the other rooms, there appeared to be some kind of light inside._

" _Coco…?" I called once more as I poked my head in._

 _The room itself was fairly small. From what I could see, it looked as if it was some kind a secret hideout. After all, there was a bookshelf with more than enough books for reading and a comfortable-looking couch on the opposite side. Above all, there was a podium in the middle and a book smack dab on top of it._

 _As I approached it, I was able to read out the title of this book._

" _The Journal of the Two Sisters…?"_

 _I didn't think much of it, and I actually assumed it was just some kind of fairy tale._

 _I turned my eyes towards what appeared to be two glass stained windows. One appeared to represent the sun and the day, and the other represented the moon and night. At this point, I couldn't help but immediately remember back on what you said. About us being as different as day and night._

 _I found a mirror between these two windows, and I began to stare at my reflection. Ironically, as I did, I began to reflect on everything that had happened that day. About what the tree had told me and even if everything I had been going through was just a dream._

 _Although, I was immediately startled when I found a group of ponies joining me in the mirror. I instantly recognized them as I saw their reflections, but, of course, I had to turn around to make sure. I wasn't just seeing things. They were really there, and they were here to come take what I owed them._

" _Oh, poo… We almost thought we wouldn't find you."_

 _It was Adagio, the one with the orange fluffy hair._

" _I bet she thought she could get rid of us for good, huh?"_

 _Then, it was Aria, the one with neon green stripes in her purple mane._

" _Gosh, she's really good at hide and seek!"_

 _Finally, there was Sonata, the "silly" one with the ponytail._

" _You weren't trying to get rid of us, were you...?" Adagio approached me and prepared to lean her face in. "That'd be a big no-no."_

 _I couldn't really answer. Instead, I was secretly thinking of ways to do just what they had been objecting to. If I really had this "extraordinary" power, then was there something I could do to finally get them out of my life?_

" _Ughh." Aria groaned. "Hurry up. I'm starving."_

 _With an agreeing nod from Sonata, Adagio looked back and gestured them to calm down with her hoof. "Settle down, settle down. You don't like your meals raw, do you?"_

" _Don't like them burnt either." Aria refused._

 _Adagio turned back to me with a seemingly apathetic look. "Listen, it's been a long day for us, so let's just cut to the chase, shall we? Like always, this'll only hurt a bit."_

 _Before, I might have cowered out and let them have their way, but this time, I wasn't allowing it. As soon as they closed their eyes and prepared their necklaces to suck out the magic in me, I pushed Adagio away and gave it to her straight._

" _No."_

" _Excuse me?" Adagio began to form a scolding look in her face, as if she had been my parent and I had disobeyed an order._

" _I didn't understand it at first…" I began to explain. "Why you'd pick on me and take this 'magic' that I figured I never had. I guess it didn't help that you never left any for me to explore on my own, but not this time. This magic I have within me. If it can help protect others, especially my brother, then I'm not giving it up. Not anymore."_

 _Aria looked towards Sonata with an extremely annoyed expression, and Sonata only looked clueless as ever. Adagio, on the other hoof, looked like she was trying to keep it together as best as she could. "Heh heh. Since when do you become such a little comedian? I'd laugh harder, but as you can see, we're starving over here, and you're the only pony who's willing to give us such a scrumptious order of magic, you know? You should be honored. You're one of the rare ones. You're like a five-star restaurant compared to all of the other fast food out there. And you should be oh so understanding that fast food grows old_ _ **really**_ _quickly."_

" _Get your meals elsewhere. This five-star restaurant is closed." I boldly stated, and I had to admit, I felt a little cool for saying it the way I did._

 _Adagio had been trying to so hard to keep her "sweet" face, but it had been already breaking apart like a broken mirror. "Oh no…! You're not the one who gets decide. If you're not going to give us your magic nicely, then we'll just take it!"_

 _I suddenly began feeling as if daggers began to penetrate my chest, and it caused much more pain compared to when I would willingly just give them whatever they wanted so they would leave. I didn't know what was going to happen, or how I was going to get out of this mess. All I knew is that I needed to fight back somehow._

" _No!" I screamed out._

 _I could see a glow form from behind me, and this ended up having Adagio look past me in surprise. As soon as she had lost focus on me, I grabbed her by the neck with my hooves and threw her behind me. However, I didn't expect what happened next. I thought she would break the mirror that had stood at the back, but she literally went through it instead, as if it had been some kind of portal._

" _Adagio!?" Aria and Sonata called out in surprise._

 _Feeling the angriest I've ever been, I was planning on finishing what I had started._

 _Fortunately, they remained stunned by what they had just saw, so I had enough time to dash over to the mirror and push it over to them. It took them some time to realize that they needed to get out of its way, but it was too late. Right before they could move, they had already been sucked in. All that was left was the mirror lying flat on the ground._

 _I didn't realize how hard I had been breathing. My heart was pumping extremely fast. I think all the adrenaline I had felt started to wind down. When I was able to calm myself, I turned towards the mirror and slowly picked it back up._

 _I was surprised to see that it hadn't broken or shatter at all. I thought to myself for a bit and soon found myself on the brink of freaking out. Those three girls that had been hunting me my entire life… They were gone just like that!_

 _I cautiously poked and tapped the mirror, but it reacted just like an ordinary mirror. It didn't bother taking my hoof. Was this a mirror that magically trapped any kind of evil? Or did it have something to do with me? Either way, if everything that happened today wasn't enough, the fact these girls disappearing just like that was too much. I was ready to call this entire day just a dream, but I still couldn't wake myself up._

" _Athena!" I heard a familiar voice at the doorway._

 _I turned and immediately spotted a pony I had been glad to see. "Coco!" I raced over to her and proceeded to give her a tight hug. She oddly brushed my mane as she returned the embrace, but I didn't question it at the time. "I'm so happy to see you!"_

" _Me too, Athena." Coco returned a bit protectively. "I was scared something might happen to you."_

"… _happen to me?" I questioned as I slightly pulled back to look at her face._

" _Of course." She answered. "Those girls that were bothering you. I was afraid I'd have to take care of them myself."_

"' _Take care of them'…?" I returned in confusion. "What do you mean? What's gotten into you?"_

 _At that moment, she began laughing, and that laughter soon turned into a twisted cackle. Her body began to morph and change. She grew horridly taller and holes began to form on her legs. All I could do was stare in shock, feeling practically every part of my body become paralyzed._

 _I had been caught in her web…and I didn't even know it…_

* * *

I was surprised that Athena hadn't been the one to wake me up like she usually did. It had already been afternoon, and I couldn't find her in our room.

"Athena?" I called out.

For some reason, I felt myself wanting to panic.

However, just as I was about to go out and search for her, the door to our room opened.

"Were you calling me?"

I quickly turned towards the doorway and found her standing there as she looked at me with her head slightly tilted.

I immediately exhaled a sigh of relief and shook my head. "You didn't wake me up today, and you weren't here when I finally woke up, so…I don't know…I got worried a bit."

She laughed a little differently, which I found rather strange. "Don't worry, brother. I just wanted to let you sleep. You've been through so much, I thought it'd be best to let you sleep in."

"Uh-huh… You feeling okay?" I asked, noticing her odd behavior.

"I'm perfectly fine!" She grinned brightly, but something about that grin didn't fit in naturally. "I love you so much, brother!"


	13. Day 19 - Gone

Day 19 – Gone

* * *

" _No! What are you doing! Let me go!" I screamed as I felt some kind of sticky residue weave over me, keeping me glued to the floor of the secret room I had been in._

" _That should hold her." My captor assured and turned towards one of her apparent minions. He was a lot smaller than she was. "Thorax. Stay here and watch her. I've got business to attend to."_

" _D-don't you think holding her down like this is a little too much?" The one, whose name sounded familiar to a term used to describe a certain something in our bodies, asked._

" _Be quiet and do as I ask. This one is certainly a fighter."_

" _Y-yes…Queen Chrysalis."_

 _Whatever this creature was, Queen Chrysalis, she approached me and lifted my chin to closely observe my face._

" _Such a cute face. It's a shame." She lightly pushed my head away. "Now that we have our bait, it's time to wait for the main course to arrive. But first, he may need a little…incentive…" I got to witness the same process a second time. She had been able to somehow change into any kind of exact replica of any pony, and now it disgusted me to see a spitting image of my own. "Don't worry. It won't be long until you get to see your sweet brother. However, it'd be wise to have your last words and goodbye ready. You won't have long until the two of you are nothing but empty husks."_

 _I didn't know what was more horrifying to see her wickedly cackling as: her natural form or her imitation of me. There was nothing I could do but close my eyes and look away. Any sign of bravery I once had with Adagio, Aria, and Sonata was now gone._

 _Just why did I have to be such a burden to everypony important to me…? Especially the one I cared about the most…_

* * *

I was hoping it'd be gone by the next day, but I should have known what was coming to me. Athena had been acting completely strange, and it was strange enough to make me feel extremely uncomfortable. I didn't know what I was thinking. In fact, I didn't want to think at all. I guess I wanted everything to fix by itself. I didn't want to believe that things could only grow worse, but they did.

After having hoped that Athena was just going through an odd day, I found a surprise waiting for me the next morning. Instead of finding Athena by my side, I found a disgusting insect I wished I had a repellant for.

"Hello, handsome."

I was startled out of bed and felt myself backing against the wall. "You again?! How did you get in here?!" I demanded.

Chrysalis chucked lightly, holding her broken hoof over her mouth. "You can't be _this_ incompetent, can you? Haven't you noticed a certain someone missing yet?"

I violently shook my head. "Listen, I swear you better just be a unicorn playing a prank on me! If she's in any kind of harm, I'll…!"

Chrysalis laughed once again as if I had been some standup comedian. "Oh, it's already too late for that."

"You can change into different kinds of ponies. I get that!" I continued, still feeling a whim of denial inside me. "So, what? I'm sure any unicorn who knew a certain spell could do that! If you think this is some kind of funny joke, it's not!"

Chrysalis now shook her head in a disappointed manner. "How dense must you be? Oh well. Suit yourself. Why don't you go ahead and run off to look for her? I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding her if you continue to believe whatever false reality that lies in your pathetic mind." She turned towards the window in the room and remained silent for a short moment. "I'll give you the day to search for her, but I'll have you know that time is of the essence, and I _will_ have dinner tonight. Should you not find her, which you won't, I'll be back to give you the answer you wish to have."

"If you know where she is, then why don't you just tell me now?!" I questioned a bit aggressively.

"I don't take too kindly to disrespectful little brats…" She answered in a sort of rotten tone. "Besides, I can't let you know the secrets of how I prepare my perfect meals now, could I?"

"Whoever you are…" I felt my teeth grit unhealthily. "You're one sick unicorn." I absolutely refused to believe that Athena was in any real danger. There was no way that all this would happen so suddenly. It either had to be a nightmare or just a prank like I wanted to believe. Nevertheless, I didn't want to stand around and argue with this creature. I wanted to see Athena for myself. I wanted to see that she was okay. In fact, I was willing to believe that this was a prank set by Athena herself. All I cared was knowing that she was okay.

* * *

I started with the spots we knew about in town. First, it was Sugarcube Corner. I dashed in and headed straight for the counter. Pinkie Pie was there to greet me.

"Hiya, Alex! Where's Athena? Is she not with you today?"

"No. That's what I wanted to talk to you about." I felt myself speaking noticeably faster than usual. "You haven't seen her around, have you?"

"I can't say I have." Pinkie responded as she tapped her chin with her hoof. "Why? What's going on?"

"I need to talk to her." It was the simplest thing I could say. I didn't want to say that she was in trouble or even that I needed to know if she was okay. I couldn't even bear the thought of it…

"I'd help you look for her, but I'm kind of in the middle of work right now…" Pinkie's eyes swayed to the side while she rubbed the back of her head, as if she felt sorry she was unable to do anything for me.

I shook my head. "Thanks anyway."

If she wasn't here then I needed to check elsewhere.

* * *

Next, I galloped over to Sweet Apple Acres and came to a trot when I spotted Applejack working outside the barn with some hay.

"Applejack!" I called.

"Alex?" Applejack responded, obviously surprised to see me. "Watcha doin' here? You needed something?"

"Have you seen Athena?" I asked slightly more frantically now.

"N-no…" Applejack's tone shifted gravely as if she could sense the dread I had been trying to keep suppressed. "I haven't. Is…everything okay?"

I shook my head yet again. "I have to go."

* * *

I stopped by the dress shop Athena and I had been in the other day.

"Excuse me, have you seen my sister, Athena?

"I'm afraid not." Rarity had turned back from observing a piece of fabric.

"See you later." I hardly spared, not even allowing her the chance to ask why I had been looking for her.

* * *

I didn't want to visit the next place, but I had been in a desperate search all over town, so I had to cover everything.

I found the pony named Fluttershy and her rainbow-maned friend at the same spot we last encountered them in. They looked like they had been busying themselves with the area, but I didn't bother cutting in politely.

"What are _you_ doing here?!" The hotheaded one shouted at the sight of me. "I thought I told you to scram!"

"Shut up and listen to me for a second!" I asserted. "Athena, the girl I was with the other time we were here, have you seen her?!"

"No, we haven't, but if it's a fight you're looking for…!"

I didn't know what she had thought to come to that conclusion, but I didn't bother with her any longer.

* * *

My heart had been itching to get out of my chest at this point, and I couldn't help but feel weak at the knees. I had still been trying to hold on to the hope that all of this was just either a nightmare or prank, but my grip on that hope was quickly slipping.

For the rest of the day, as long as I could, I searched for my sister all over.

At the end of the day…I realized that I felt absolutely terrified and lonely without her…


	14. Day 20 - Till Time Keeps Us Part

Day 20 – Till Time Keeps Us Part

* * *

" _Look at him shrivel with fear…and yet…his love for you only continues to grow." Chrysalis provided an unnerving commentary as she continued to watch over you in this crystal ball she had on a podium in front of her. "It's perfect. Absolutely perfect." She turned towards me, causing me to slightly flinch back in fear. "His love grows as he worries over you, and in turn, you worry over him which inflates the love you have for him! I only wish I could allow this to continue forever, but a girl has to eat sometime."_

" _Queen Chrysalis…" Thorax began to speak. "I know we feed off the love of others and stuff…but don't you think this is a little harsh? You're causing so much pain to them, I can't help but feel really sorry…"_

" _You always were the weakest of the bunch." Chrysalis stated as she looked back at Thorax with a disgusted frown. "You still have so much to learn about the true nature of our kind. I'm glad you won't be feasting on this love with me, seeing as you have an issue with how I feed myself."_

 _Thorax lowered his head in shame and turned away with nothing else to say._

" _I'm getting antsy. It should be growing dark any minute now." Chrysalis turned away from her crystal ball and began to search through my schoolbag. "It's time for your 'hero' to arrive." She found my sketchbook, seeing as it was practically the only thing in there, and flipped through it. She stopped at one of the last pages I had sketched on. "What's this? A map? HAH." She cackled for a short time. "This is just TOO easy. This_ _ **must**_ _be fate."_

 _I hated the fact that I was helpless. I was supposed to have these powers to protect you, but what were they?! The only thing I knew I could do was stop time, but obviously, even if I was able to do that, I wouldn't be able to get out of the glue keeping me stuck here. There had to be more! But what?!_

 _If you can listen to me right now, please! I need to know! I need to help Alex! He's all I have, and I'll do anything if it means I can make sure he's safe!_

* * *

"I think Athena's in trouble! Please, you have to help me find her!" I pleaded the last pony I'd ever expect to help me with anything.

"What in Equestria are you talking about, boy?" My dad refuted harshly. "I don't have time for your stupid games. She was with you yesterday."

"That _wasn't_ her! I don't know where she is, and I'm scared!" It was practically the first time I ever revealed my vulnerable side to him.

Instead, he only shook his head in both frustration and disappointment. "You two aren't my problem. Get to your room. I don't need you pulling another stunt like you did back in Fillydelphia."

I was sent to my room, and I was no longer allowed to search outside. I couldn't get sleep at all.

It was already past midnight, and I could feel my heart dip into a pool of depression and anxiety. Athena missing was the worst thing ever to happen to me, and I could no longer deny the situation for what it really was.

She had been kidnapped.

I couldn't understand why in the first place. It must have had something to do with Chrysalis and what she wanted, but I honestly didn't care about any of that. All I wanted was my sister back, and I was willing to do anything for that.

However, I had no idea where to start, and it frustrated me to the deepest end that I was so powerless at the time. I couldn't believe that our own _father_ refused to help me. Instead, it only made things worse with him practically grounding me at home. He only cared about his image or reputation or whatever. It was absolutely absurd. He just didn't want me to make him "look bad" again…

I wanted to scream out loud or punch the wall. Something. Anything. All I had been doing is pacing around in my room the entire time, trying my hardest not to break down in tears and wish that it was all still a nightmare.

However, there was a sudden tap at our window. I immediately turned and approached it, opening it as soon as I got the chance. I looked around as fast and hard as I could, but I didn't see anything of interest. Chrysalis was supposed to come back, wasn't she?! Well, where is she?!

Before I could allow my anger to screech out, I noticed a piece of paper stuck at a corner of the window. I pulled it out and hurriedly opened it up. With the moonlight, I attempted to identify its contents. There was an 'X' at the bottom of the page, and near it were the words 'Everfree Forest'. Spaced short lines led a path up the page until they ended at somewhere that appeared to be a castle. Near the castle, there seemed to be an addition in a horrid attempt at humor. There was a small crude picture of a pony with the words of: "Help me! :("

The alone was enough to convince me that this was where I needed to go, but I couldn't help but notice something else. The paper felt and looked similar, but it was the writing of the labels on the map that caught my interest. It was definitely Athena's writing, and, noticing the torn edges at the side, it had to be from Athena's sketchbook.

I searched for the hoodie Miss Cadence had given me for our birthday and placed it on as quickly as I could. At first, I looked out the window to see if there was any possible way for me to get down and outside. However, the window didn't seem to be an option, seeing as our room was on the second floor. I couldn't risk hurting myself, especially in this case.

My only option was going out through the front door…

At that point, I could feel many fears stretch out and get in my way. It was my stupid mistake to tell our father about the situation. He didn't want me outside now, so I didn't think I'd be able to just waltz out the front door.

Nevertheless, I had to stick through with my promise. As long as I had Athena on my mind, nothing else mattered. If saving her meant destroying any shred of family we supposedly had back here, then it was no doubt worth it.

I had this hurting feeling that this would be the last time I'd ever step hoof in this house. If our father, our entire family, hardly gave a flying hoof about Athena's safety, then this was no place for us. If they weren't already going to disown us after my upcoming little stunt, then I was planning to leave willingly.

Punishing us for stupid little things was one thing, but if they're just going to ignore Athena's disappearance, then I don't ever want to even look at their faces again. Athena and I can take of ourselves. We'll make it work somehow. We don't need them.

I packed what little we had in my own schoolbag, including Athena's hoodie, and tightened it firmly around my chest. I placed a hoof on our door and took in a deep breath. When I finally let it out, I furrowed my eyebrows and made my way through.

I didn't hear any noise coming from downstairs, so even though it was a long stretch, I had been hoping everyone was asleep or too busy doing something. I quietly stepped down the stairs, and I was fortunate enough that they didn't creak out or anything.

Nevertheless, I found myself standing absolutely still the moment I reached the first floor. There had been a small light in the room across the stairs near the front door. In that room, our soon-to-be ex-father had been sitting and reading something on the table. However, he had looking directly at me the moment I had made it down the stairs. His small-framed glasses didn't necessarily lighten the dark expression on his face. I couldn't help but feel chills maneuver through my body.

The two of us stared at each other for a long while. I was starting to think that he had been hoping his bone-chilling glare was enough to send me to my room with my tail between my legs, but I wasn't budging.

"Going somewhere, boy?" He less-than-pleasantly asked.

"I've got nothing to say to you." I returned coldly, preparing to stand my ground.

"You better watch your mouth, if you know what's good for you." He began to stand up as he pulled something towards him.

It was his leather strap. He already had it ready, so that could only mean that he had seen this coming. I could only quietly watch him as he tightened its grip in his mouth. His teeth clenched onto it as if his fangs were sinking into an apple. It was now or never.

"You think I'm afraid of you?" I boldly voiced. "If you're not going to bother helping me look for Athena, then I'll do it on my own, and there's no way in Tartarus that you're going to stop me!" I braced myself for what was to come, but this time, I was going to give it all I had. Worst case scenario, if I found myself being cornered or overwhelmed, then I would just have to make a break for it.

I expected him to whip me with his strap first, but he ended up surprising me when he butted me with his head straight against the wall. There was a loud thump, and nearby objects shook from the vibration. A vase even wobbled unsteadily before barely regaining back its balance.

In the middle of recovering from that hit, especially since I had hit my head against the wall, I felt him press his hoof against my throat, standing me upright against the wall. All I could see were his practically bloodshot eyes. He definitely wanted to hurt me bad. That much was obvious.

"You little prick. If it wasn't for your mother, I would have left you out in the streets like a stray dog. You and that bratty little sister of yours. You two never had any business in this house or our lives, and, believe me, if I could wish you two away, I would do it in an instant and not regret it the least."

"What?" I almost struggled to say since he had his hoof at my throat. "You having trouble saying it? Say it to my face. Tell me that the two of us are adopted. It's pretty freaking clear that we never belonged here in the first place."

My left cheek was met with a stinging hard slap to the face by his weapon of choice.

"I'm going to punish you good." He stated bluntly. "And whenever I see that sister of yours, I'm going to give her the same treatment, just you wait."

My teeth clashed together so forcefully, I was almost afraid they'd break because of it. "You monster. You so much lay a hoof on her, I'll break every bone in your body!" I managed to grip his coat as I looked at him dead in the eye. "You're not getting anywhere near her!"

I had been ignoring this certain feeling in my body that was swelling up by the second. At first, I thought it was just my anger, but it proved me wrong when this blinding bright light intervened between us. Next thing I knew, my father, for the first time in my life, was lying incapacitated on the floor. In a sense, that was usually my spot. Not this time.

I didn't know what had exactly happened. I was wondering if I had blacked out, so to speak, but it didn't feel that way. It was more like something came by my side and aided me during that short moment of light. Nevertheless, I couldn't spare any time to ponder about it. I only continued to stare at the stallion who was now at the bottom before me.

"You're such a coward." I told him in a tone of absolute disgust. I noticed the leather strap that was now free from his grasp and gave it a new owner. Somepony who would put it to good use instead. "I don't care if you aren't our real father. You're just a selfish prick. You won't see us again. I promise you that." Before any pony could get wind of the situation that just occurred downstairs, I decided to take my leave.

* * *

I had made some distance outside before I heard somepony calling my name. However, the only pony I was interested in listening to was Athena, and by the voice, I already knew it wasn't her.

"What do you think you're doing?! You're going to leave, just like that?!"

I didn't bother turning around to face her. It was Starlight, and it was pretty clear that she was heavily upset. Maybe even a little heated.

"I'm going to find Athena." I answered without a sign of hesitation as I slightly looked over my shoulder. "Then, we're both going to get out of here."

"And where do you think you're going to go?!" She attempted to escalate this into an argument. I found that ironic. It was almost as if she cared… "You don't even have a place to stay! You two aren't going to make it—"

"Like you would miss me." I finally turned over to her and give her a look of utter repulsion as well. It definitely shut her up, just as I had been hoping. I didn't dare want to waste my breath with any of them anymore.

I continued walking and didn't look back once.

What did she know? She was only toxic to us. All of them were. We'll make it work. When I find her, I'm sure we can work something out with Applejack. I don't even care if I have to stay at the barn. I'm sure they'll let us stay if we pull our weight around.

I had already been thinking of a plan for when I find her, but I had to shake those thoughts out of my mind. For now, I needed to concentrate on finding Athena in the first place. No pony was going to get in my way.

* * *

Based on the map, the forest I needed to go through was apparently around where we had encountered Fluttershy and her friend. They'd be stupid if they were out here at this time, so I shouldn't have to worry about any slowdowns.

There wasn't exactly anything but the moonlight that guided me. From what I was able to see, I noticed a warning sign right outside a path into a murky forest. I didn't bother looking into the details. I was going in there, whatever the case. Nevertheless, I looked up into the sky and found that dark swollen clouds were there to greet me. It was yet another case of weather working on its own.

I began to feel droplets land on the uncovered parts of my face and coat, and it didn't take long for the amount of falling rain to increase. I closed my eyes and began remembering how I was in the exact same situation a couple of weeks ago. I was on a mission to help somepony I cared about, only this time, I would say things were a lot more serious and personal.

I reached for Athena's map from my pockets and took another glance at it. I studied it for just a few seconds and placed it back inside my pockets before it could get too wet. I believed I could memorize the path I needed to go, as long as I didn't try to cut corners.

I didn't know what was in store for me, so I prepared to take one last deep breath before I made my final decision. Once I exhaled, I grabbed ahold of my hood and placed it over my head. Under this one circumstance was the only time I'd ever go through a dangerous-looking place like this.

"Don't worry…" I whispered under my breath as I took one last hard look down the foggy path. "I'm coming…"

Not a moment after, I proceeded to sprint my way through before any kind of thoughts relating to fear or hesitation could catch up. I didn't dare look back. It felt as if the pace of my heart would increase with every flash of lightning and crack of thunder. I almost felt like I was running away from someone, but I continuously had to remind myself that that wasn't the case. Instead, I was the one who was doing the chasing.

Dodging crooked branches, tripping roots, and possibly even wild beasts that dwelled in the forest, I couldn't be sure if at times I was hallucinating. At one point, I believed I saw something staring at me from within the dark. It wore a cloak, so it couldn't have been an animal. Was that Chrysalis? No… That figure was much too small to be her. Nevertheless, I couldn't bother with the minor details. My main priority was to find Athena.

By the time something somewhat familiar came into sight, I slowed down to a walk. For a moment, I had to fight for air until my breathing was able to sort itself out. I turned my head upwards and noticed a castle just a short walk away.

Unwilling to wait any longer, I continued to gallop for a short while until I suddenly noticed someone had been in the middle of my way. From what I could tell, it was a unicorn, and her lavender hooves remained planted in the ground. I couldn't tell if she had just seen me or if she had been expecting me somehow.

Was this Chrysalis in disguise? Was she trying to stop me?

"Who are you?!" I tested.

"What are you doing here?!" She ignored, which began to anger me. It didn't sound like something Chrysalis would greet me with, but I wasn't taking any chances.

"That's for only _me_ to know!" I asserted.

She shook her head as if there was something else on her mind that was of a greater importance. "You shouldn't be here. It's too dangerous!"

"…are you going to try to stop me?" I asked with a hint of threat behind it.

"I'm trying to convince you to leave." She sounded sincere, but I wasn't buying it. There's no way some unicorn would be here all by herself of all places. "Please! Something bad is lurking around here!

"...right." I practically muttered softly. "You're not going to fool me."

"Huh?" She acted confused.

I shook my head vigorously. "I'm here for her! And I'm not leaving until I get her back!"

"What are you talking _about_?" She was really persistent… "Listen, my name is Twilight Sparkle. If you're looking for somepony, I'll help you! But we have to get out of here first. I can help you, I promise!"

With every ounce and shred of patience I may have had fleeing from my body, I raised my voice. " _ **Enough!**_ You're not fooling me. **Where is she?!** I want my sister. I want Athena **back!** You're not going to stop me, so either fight me or get out of the way!"

"Calm down. Please!" She pleaded. "I don't want to fight you! I want to help you, but like I said, we can't be here!"

" **Shut up!** " Unable to think clearly at the moment, I charged in and attacked her by tackling her to the ground. "Show yourself, you monster!"

" **No!** " She cried out, attempting to resist before she managed to pull me away with her magic.

No! I'm not going to lose just like that!

"Give her _back_!"

Before I knew it…the fight was over.

Just like back home, she had been lying there motionless. I was left breathing heavily, but I seemed to be okay. Nevertheless, this unicorn remained the same. I couldn't tell if she really had been Chrysalis. I didn't know how her kind worked, and just like with everything, I didn't have time to wonder about it.

"If you really are innocent…" I proceeded to say over her unconscious body, "I'm sorry…"

Afterwards, I turned towards the castle and continued to make my way in.

* * *

Once I was inside, every sound outside seemed to be consumed by silence. It was an absolute eerie silence. I noticed a lot of junk like webs in the area, but they were the complete least of my concerns. Before I would move on, I decided to finally take off my schoolbag and leave it by the front door. I didn't want it getting in the way. However, I made sure to bring his leather strap with me.

"Just hang on, Athena…" I mentioned softly as I scanned every opening in the hallway before me. "I'll find you. I promise…"

As much as I hoped and wished that I would find her in the very first area I looked, I knew that it was nearly improbable. Nevertheless, I didn't spend more than a few seconds calling for Athena everywhere I looked, including the darkest places. I searched high and low, to say the least.

No matter how much my morale decreased with every place I checked, I knew I couldn't quit. I don't know how or why, but it wasn't until I reached an area with a completely shattered rooftop where Chrysalis finally decided to answer a few questions. My anger began to rise the moment I noticed her standing inside as if she had been expecting me.

"Where is she?" I managed to say without a blast of aggression.

"My, my. Straight to the point, I see?" Chrysalis jested. "I like that." She proceeded to pace side to side in front of me, eyeing me as she licked her lips every now and then. "I knew there was something between you and your sister, but I never thought you'd go as far as hurting others to retrieve what you've lost. Now _that's_ what I call love." She stopped in the middle of her pacing, picked up her hoof, and observed it as if she was analyzing the results of a pedicure. "It's rather ironic, isn't it? Your love…it's something I'd call a selfish desire. You'd think loving someone is the complete opposite of being selfish, but, my goodness, you're so brutal! That poor unicorn you absolutely obliterated outside this castle… I actually feel sorry for her."

"Then why don't you take a hint?" I attacked. "Let Athena go unless you want the same thing happening to you."

"Are you joking?" Chrysalis returned with a look of disbelief. "You don't scare me. Overcoming a couple of ponies with no real strength is hardly worth being proud of, but I'll tell you what… I'll let you see her for a few minutes. How about that?"

My body immediately jerked forward in response. Chrysalis turned towards her side and apparently caused a ring of green fire to appear on the ground next to her. When the fire dissipated, I was able to see her again.

"Athena!" I called out to her, ready to close in the distance between us, but Chrysalis didn't hesitate to warn me.

"You get any closer and she'll disappear in an instant, understand?"

I didn't have any need to test her. At the moment, I wanted to at the very least talk with Athena.

"Athena, are you okay?!"

Athena seemed to look broken. She hung her head low and looked away as she answered. "…I'm fine…"

"Athena, don't worry, I'm going to get you back, and we'll both leave this place!" I promised.

"…I'm sorry, Alex… This is all my fault… If I hadn't been so dumb and pathetic, I would have never gotten you in this situation to begin with. I'm sorry for every kind of pain I've caused in your life."

"What are you _talking_ about?!" I asked, unwilling to hear that kind of talk coming from her. "Don't say stuff like that!"

"Can we please make this quick?" Chrysalis intervened. "I've brought you out here to say your goodbyes. After all, this will be the last you'll be seeing each other."

"What?!" I immediately turned towards her.

I noticed Athena's eyebrows furrow, and her expression transitioned from a sadness to anger. She had glanced over to Chrysalis and then to me. "Alex. We both share a bond like no pony else. That's why Chrysalis targeted us. This may be hard to believe…but I think we both have a power that can change things for the better!" With this unexpected remark, Chrysalis faced Athena with a cocked eyebrow. "I don't know how yet…but I promise I'll make up for everything I've had happened to you! I think I know what I need to do, but I want to see you one more time before all that." She paused for a quick second to catch her breath and continued guiding me as tears seemed to well up in her eyes. "There's this secret room in the—"

Before she could continue saying what she had to say, Chrysalis quickly covered her mouth with her hoof. "That's enough out of you. I gave you an opportunity and you horridly wasted it." Another ring of fire began to circle the two.

"Hey! Let her go!" I ordered as I galloped towards the fire. "Athena!"

However, before I could bother trying to step inside, it had already burnt out and disappeared.

For the most part, I was back to square one with my search, and I had no other choice but to continue looking around.

* * *

I managed to make my way back to where I had first entered this abandoned castle when I unexpectedly heard the sound of an organ playing. It was creepy enough to send shivers down any pony's spine, but the first thought that crossed my head was that it was a possible sign from Athena. Was she trying to tell me where she was at? It was my only lead, and I desperately hoped it was just what I needed.

I found myself in another maze in the lower underground parts of the castle, and if it weren't for the organ continuously playing between short pauses, I probably would have completely lost my way. There was no doubt that I eventually came across the room holding the source of the sound as it was loud enough to be distinguished as nearby. I cautiously slipped my head past the opening of the doorway and looked inside.

There were only candles that lit parts of the organ and the space around it. All other parts of the seemingly huge room were covered in darkness. Nevertheless, it was hard to ignore that the fire that kept the candles lit was green, rather than its usual color. It had to be Chrysalis's doing.

I began to slowly step inside, but any little noise I made escalated into an echo. Whoever had been in the front of the organ came to an abrupt cease. As I made a few more careful steps, the figure immediately bailed, causing me to call out.

"Hey!" I shouted.

I was about to run after this figure, but I suddenly began hearing buzzing and small flapping wings of tiny insects. Those close sounds mixed in with the strong echo of the area caused a noticeable shivering feeling in my chest. Nevertheless, I stood my ground and remained silent as I could only observe different shapes of black come into the radius of candlelight I was in.

I was able to somewhat clearly see them when they finally stopped. I was being surrounded by what appeared to be lesser evils associated with Chrysalis. In other words, I suppose these small disgusting insects were her minions, and I'm sure they didn't have a change of heart to help me instead.

Pulling out the strap I practically had as my own weapon, I dug my teeth into the leather and narrowed my eyes. I could only hope that it was as simple as swatting flies.

We continued to stare each other down, but it didn't help that a few were out of sight. Nevertheless, I kept an ear out and listened as much as I could in hopes to react properly. They didn't seem to start with an all-out attack. Instead, they jumped in one by one.

Stepping back and forth appropriately as much as I could, so I wouldn't lose my balance and trip, I could only flick them back with headbutts and slaps with the strap I carried. Unfortunately, I couldn't pursue a fallen one, seeing as another would get in the way.

I was afraid of getting overwhelmed at some point, but I continued pressing on. I believed they had gotten a couple of hits or even bites on me, but fortunately, it wasn't enough to bring me down. I mostly played defensively, seeing as it felt more like a fight where I had to hold out the longest.

" _That's enough._ " A voice echoed throughout the hall, causing for my enemies' movements to cease.

I stared down at the direction of the voice as I proceeded to catch my breath as quickly as I could. Chrysalis had emerged from the darkness and shared a satisfied smile at me before glancing towards her minions with an annoyed frown. "Leave us at once." Sparing no questions, I heard their repulsive wings flicker away. Once, it seemed that we were finally alone, Chrysalis's malodorous grin returned. "Simply splendid, Alex."

"What do you think you're doing?" I asked, finding her actions odd. "Isn't it my love you want? Why are you sending them away? Wouldn't it be easier if you had your little followers with you?"

"I _do_ want your love." Chrysalis clarified. "But, I want it all for myself, you see. They can have whatever scraps are left, but you and that sister of yours are _my_ full course dinner. After all, there's no way I'd miss the pleasure of dining on such rich love. They would only get in the way."

"You're so sick…" I spat out with disgust. "Even to your own loyal minions."

Chrysalis responded with a jubilant chuckle. "I'll take that as a compliment." Her crooked and broken horn began to glow, and I immediately tensed myself to brace for whatever was to come. To my surprise, something appeared in the center of the room between us. It looked like a crystal ball upon a podium. "Go ahead. Take a look."

I stared back at her with suspicion and stood still for a moment before I decided to slowly and carefully move forward. I had only planned to take a quick look so I wouldn't keep my eyes off of Chrysalis for too long, but I couldn't keep myself from hugging the ball when Athena was in sight inside it.

"Athena!" I cried out, noticing that she been helplessly huddling somewhere in fear around a few bookshelves.

"Aww…" Chrysalis reacted upon the show I put for her. "You really do care about her, don't you? Isn't. That. Just. Adorable."

The crystal ball holding the sight of my sister immediately vanished, and I was met with a wall of poisonous-looking flames that circled around me. They didn't stop until they reached their original starting point, leaving me completely trapped inside with Chrysalis.

"I'm afraid your end has come." Chrysalis spoke to me as she inched towards me like a ravenous hunter stalking its prey. "If there's anything you'd like your sister to know before her demise, I suggest you say it now before we get started."

I shook my head and felt tears brim in my eyes. The entire time, I had only been blindly searching for the only pony I considered someone I could trust. We had been inseparable ever since we had known each other, and I couldn't bear the thought of the opposite happening. In my mind, she was the only source of love in my life, and if I lost her, I wouldn't know what to do anymore… Living…would be pointless.

"I won't let you do this…" I stiffened my shoulders and forced my voice to keep from breaking. "I've fought so hard just to get here. I've already lost so much that I used to consider invaluable. But…" I lifted my head from its lowered state and faced Chrysalis directly. " **There's no way I'm going to let something like you take the only thing I love away from me!** "

As I shouted those words, I felt a bundle of weight form at my sides and on top of my head. My eyes had been too busy glaring at Chrysalis to find the reason why she had suddenly looked so surprised. Her eyes almost popped out and her jaw was on the brim of hanging open.

"An Alicorn?!" She voiced with shock as if something about me abruptly and deeply offended her. Nevertheless, she appeared to shake her head from side to side as hard as she could and returned a look of hatred and malice that I've never seen before from her. "Impossible! Your love is mine!"

I had no plans to stay on the defensive. I was going all out. I wanted, at the very least, to put up a solid fight if I ended up losing my life this night.

Chrysalis attempted to apprehend me, but for some reason, I felt as if I had glided around. Erasing any thoughts of intervention in my mind, I proceeded to jump in for an attack. Before I reached her, a ball of magic suddenly detonated in front of her, causing her to fly shortly backwards. As if I had suddenly achieved the power of levitation, I was granted the ability to keep my hooves above the ground long enough to flail my whip at her as much as I could.

"Get back!" She screamed, defending herself by blasting me with a beam of her magic.

This caused me to stagger back, but as if I was in a bloodthirsty rage, I didn't feel any long-lasting pain. As soon as I had been able to swiftly recover, I felt an eruption of energy surge within and soon shoot through my head before I noticed azure auras fling towards Chrysalis in a row, my body shaking from a sort of recoil.

The impact of this attack caused her to skid lightly backwards.

"Urghhh!" She groaned and faced me with clenched teeth. "What _are_ you?! How are you so…?!"

I was done hearing her talk. Instead, I continued to lash out every piece of my frustrated aggression upon her. At the time, I hadn't been focusing on making sure my attacks landed. All I cared about was unleashing all the pent-up rage I had accumulated, so it wasn't a surprise to find if a lot of my attacks missed. Either way, she appeared to be taking somewhat of a beating, and it was fair to say that she was doing the running instead of me.

My vision would darken every now and then as if I was on the verge of blacking out, but I was able take a break from my hurling fury when Chrysalis suddenly backed out into her walls of fire. I tried to look for her all around, but she managed to poke back in and tackle me into the ground.

It was clear that she wanted to pin me and stop me from fighting back, but I swear that there was literally something inside of me that wouldn't let that happen. Before she could cast any kind of magic upon me, she was interrupted by yet another source of magical power or interference.

Noting that she was vulnerable, she quickly flew back in midair. Bearing no hesitation, I pursued after her, and the two of us clashed for a short moment before I bashed my head towards her, sending her to the ground. Just as she was about to get up, I planted my hooves onto her body and felt another large exertion escape from my body.

Just as the other two times with my dad and that unknown unicorn, a blinding light erupted between us. When I had been able to see again, I noticed Chrysalis struggling to get up, her hooves trembling in what was most likely fatigue. However, I was prepared to offer no kind of mercy. I threw the weapon I had in my mouth to the side, and, before I knew it, a large beam of magic shot directly towards her from my direction as I gave one last venting scream.

I watched her fall flat onto one of the walls of the room and slide back onto the ground like the annoying fly she was. Had I not been panting so heavily in exhaustion, I believed I would have continued hacking away at her. Nevertheless, all the anger that had been fueling me the entirety of the fight seemed to slip away, and the weight that had been added on faded. Any bit of her fire that had remained died down.

"How…?" I heard her voice bitterly question. "A pony like you…" She surprisingly managed to bring herself back onto her four hooves, but it was clear that she wasn't in any kind of condition to be a threat.

"I want my sister." I demanded.

Chrysalis slowly shook her head as she began to back away. "This isn't over. You won this time, but only because I wasn't expecting such events to unfold. I'll get what I want next time we meet. I promise you that. You better watch your back from now on, little pony."

As much as I wanted to hurt her, I found myself suffering from fatigue as well. It was just like at the end of a hardcore workout. Any little adrenaline I had was gone, and the thought of knocking out was a tempting offer.

I had to let Chrysalis go for now, despite how much I was really against it. I needed to use whatever energy I had left for Athena. Things in the castle were calm now, but frustration began to build up inside me once more. I still had no idea where Athena was, and I'd still have to look all over for her.

However, just then, I remembered something. Back when I was looking in the crystal ball, I remember seeing a couple of bookshelves in the background. It wasn't much of a solid amount of evidence, but my best bet was to check the library. Athena had mentioned something about a secret room…so that's what I needed to look for…

In the middle of throwing a whole sort of books and furniture in the library around, I found myself absent-mindedly thinking about what had happened with Chrysalis. I wanted to know why I had been able to overcome Chrysalis, seeing as she presented herself as a major threat. In fact, all of this still felt like one big nightmare that I couldn't wake up from. At the same time, I was growing weaker and tired the more I thought. Despite my puzzled mind, I needed to wait until I found Athena and got us to someplace safe.

It felt as if I lost any sense of time or even my thought process as I tried to find this "secret room". My body naturally began to be consumed by rage, and I was at the point of breaking any little thing I came across. Without my sister, I honestly felt myself becoming a horrid brute. I started thinking that Chrysalis was right about one thing… I _was_ willing to hurt any pony if they bothered to get in the way of making sure Athena was safe.

The thin ice my patience had been on was now broken, and different veins throughout my body felt as if they winded together. Having had no luck, I slammed my hooves down on top of a long table in front of the library. In the next few seconds, I felt myself blindly kicking and tossing things aside as I groaned and shouted in frustration. Lastly, I planned to kick one of the chairs across the area, but it remained planted in the same spot. Instead, it actually only leaned forcefully backwards until it froze in place all of a sudden. As I stared in question at this odd sight, there was a loud sound of dragging movement, along with a vibration of the floor I had been on.

I quickly looked behind me and noticed a path that had been opened up by two bookshelves. Taking only a quick second to gasp, I immediately began trotting inwards. A little part inside me was afraid of another trap, but seeing as Chrysalis had been left in a bad condition, I didn't worry too much about it. Nevertheless, as soon as I was inside, I never figured the sight of her would give me the vivid feeling of ecstasy I didn't believe I had ever felt in my life.

"Athena!" I cried out and immediately raced over to her, pulling her into the tightest hug I could manage.

"Alex…" She mentioned with what sounded like sadness in her voice. "…you were the reddest I've ever seen you…"

Despite what she said, I quickly shook my head and focused my attention on her condition. "Are you okay? Did she hurt you?"

"I'm fine…" She unexcitedly returned. "…but… I'm scared…"

"You don't have to be scared, Athena." I assured her. "She won't be bothering us anymore. No one will. We'll make it together. Just the two of us. We won't have to worry about anyone anymore. If it anyone tries to take you away from me again, I'll do whatever it takes to bring you back. I won't let anything like tonight happen again!"

"But that's just it, Alex!" She faced me with gloomy eyes. "Everything that happened here is my fault! Everything that always happens to the two of us is always my fault! It's like all I do is bring you trouble, and I'm _sick_ of doing that!"

"Stop blaming yourself!" I argued. "You have _no_ control with what happens. What matters now is that you're safe."

"How much longer can we last, Alex?" I couldn't help but feel as if Athena was questioning my promise of protection. "Chrysalis will keep looking for us, and who knows what she'll do next. I just don't want to see you get hurt. That's the last thing I want to happen…" Athena raised her hooves to wipe the tears from her eyes. "I never told you…because I was scared. But…apparently, I can control time, or at least freeze it. Before Chrysalis caught me, I found this tree that spoke to me. It said we both have these…'extraordinary abilities', and that it's our bond that will shine light in the 'deepest and darkest places'. I still don't even know what these abilities or powers exactly _are_ , but if I can somehow manipulate what I already know to make sure your always safe, then I'm willing to do it…"

It wasn't that I _didn't_ believe what she was saying. So many strange things had been happening that I couldn't explain myself. Yet, I didn't like the way she had been talking. Just what was she planning to do?

"Athena…"

"This entire time I'd been helplessly held back, I did a lot of thinking, Alex." She told me. "About how these powers worked and stuff, and I think I came up with an idea… I think they somehow work with my emotions, and stuff happens when I _really_ want them to. I _really_ want you to not have to worry about me anymore, so I'm afraid you're not going to like what happens next…"

"Just what the hay are you saying, Athena?" I unexpectedly felt my anger rise.

"Alex… I'm cold." She suddenly changed the topic. "Can I borrow your hoodie?"

"Yeah, of course." I quickly removed the clothing I had almost entirely forgot I had been wearing and turned it over to Athena.

Once she had it on, she seemed to snuggle a bit with it.

"It's so warm…" Her eyes were closed for a few seconds as if she was deep in thought. I noticed tears well up in them when they opened, and she had been looking at me as if she had just lost something important. "Alex… I'm sorry."

All of a sudden, some kind of bubble or aura formed around her, separating the two of us apart. At this sight, I immediately panicked and became desperate.

"Athena! What are you doing?!" I tried to reach her, but my hooves only remained planted on the surface of this magical barrier.

"I'm sorry, Alex." She apologized uncontrollably as a waterfall of tears fell from both her eyes. "I really am. I don't want to do this, but I have to if I want to protect you. I know it's scary now, but you won't remember anything about me. Don't worry, I'll make sure to always stay with you no matter what. I won't let you worry about me ever again. I'm sorry."

"Athena, stop! Please!" I felt myself bursting into the same sad state she was in. I couldn't bear the thought of losing her for a second time. "I'll do anything! I just want you by my side! You're the only thing that matters to me! I promise I'll protect you! Believe me!"

My words definitely seemed to have caused hesitation to interfere with her plans, but she managed to shake them away. "I love you, Alex. I love you so much. Please understand why I need to do this."

"Athena!" I cried out one last time.

"I love you, Alex." She repeated. "I'm sorry…but I'm afraid our summer together…is over…"

She closed her eyes with those last few words, and soon, I felt everything I knew begin to fade away.


	15. Day 21 - Summer Sun Celebration

Day 21 – Summer Sun Celebration

* * *

 _Maybe there was something better I could have done. Maybe I didn't have to change everything the way I did. Maybe we_ _ **could**_ _have found some way to make it through. But, I was scared. I guess I thought that I even knew what I was doing. I thought a great sacrifice was necessary to keep my promise of your safety._

 _It was unreal. At first, I was just a naïve little girl, but before I knew it, I was a naïve little girl with a huge responsibility on my shoulders. I've never really been a unicorn, so I wouldn't know exactly how their magic worked. All I could say that the way I made things happen felt like making a wish, and those wishes seem to be connected to my emotions. I still don't understand how exactly I was able to do what I did, and I don't think there's anything on these 'abilities' I have to allow me to have full control of them. I guess the closest I can get to understanding it is just to wait over time, but after what happened that night, I honestly wouldn't want to ever mess with time again._

 _Just know this, Alex. I love you more than anything else. You mean the world to me. You may be here with me right now…but I can't help but still feel like a piece of you may have been left behind. If I could see that piece of you one more time, I'd want him to hear what I just told you right now._

* * *

The sudden cackle of thunder startled me awake. I was gasping and breathing roughly for only a moment. My head was already facing the window, where I saw the dark gray clouds fill the sorrowful sky. Rain was pummeling towards the ground, indirectly shooting at my window. I sighed deeply and decided to turn around to remove myself from bed. I didn't think I was going back to sleep anyway.

It was the dawn of the summer solstice. A transition into something new and fresh, yet familiar. However, throughout these years, I've always felt like the same pathetic pony. Princess Celestia was coming to Ponyville for this year's Summer Sun Celebration, but I had no real intention of going.

I couldn't describe the lack of motivation I had. It felt as if there was something missing in my life. It felt as if there was some huge gaping hole inside me. It's like if I just lost something significant, but I didn't believe I ever had that to begin with.

I shook off these thoughts as they weren't anything new nowadays and began dragging my hooves towards the bathroom. Despite how much I wanted to stay inside in bed, I had errands I unfortunately needed to run.

Just one rare walk in town, and I can shut myself back inside…


End file.
